A Bear, a Monkey & a little Monster!

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.

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…

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…

Wow! What a busy week! Things seem to have dragged but have also gone incredibly fast too.

Sunday, Max and Di were still here but unfortunately had to head home. Family dinner on Sunday night – that was about it.

Monday, Playcentre. Cooper got drenched playing in the wet grass and puddles. The one week i don’t take a change of clothes. LOL! Unfortunately he was so wet I didn’t get a chance to take photos… but I can tell you that I am still trying to get the dirty marks out of his socks!

Tuesday was a trip into town. The truck had to go into be serviced so Cooper and I trekked into town and back again – twice! Armstrong Prestige had an A3 that they loaned me for the day which was dinky and strange to drive in comparison to the truck. But at least I got a loaner. We also stopped in at my work for a few minutes on the way back to get the truck. Ohhh also got to test drive a new car himself.

Wednesday – Toy Library week. We took Cooper’s toys back and got some new ones. Well, one new toy. Two others he has had before. The new toy, a cooking stove, has been the center of his play time this week. As a result we have a new word – “cook”. We also got “Toot toot” which is very very cute.

Thursday we had some issues with the Garage Door. So the guys came out to have a look at it. It appears that the original guys that installed it (who have since gone bust) applied the tensions far to much and as a result was over working the engine and essentially making the door behave as it was… but he fixed it and it has been perfect since. Yay! Groceries and a quiet night of work.

Friday – Swimming. Cooper did very well and had a good class – only 3 people attended the lesson which was great as Cooper got more one-on-one time. Dinner was a little different. I tried a old family recipe Mince dish. Cooper LOVED it! And devoured the whole lot!

Today – Cooper is 17 months old! He woke very early then went back to sleep. As a result we all slept in. Up late and off to the Markets. Got a great deal – only $10 for all the fruit and veges we needed for the week. Awesome. After that we headed over to choose Tim’s new glasses frames. We got some really nice new frames for his day to day work but couldn’t find a pair of sunnies that he liked. From there to Evan’s to get ribbon for Brooke’s tutu and then onto BabyCity to get a couple of plates for Cooper (at $3 who could complain). From there to drop some carpet off to be made into a mat then home via the Lighting shop.

Anna came over with Dom this afternoon with a huge pile of books and some really cool toys. Cooper loves them! Takeout dinner tonight, which is a change from the homemade pizza that we normally have. Just gonna chill tonight but I have work tomorrow night to do.

Work – busy busy busy! But Meghna is back so it should calm down a little now. But the Sprint has almost finished so that is a good thing… Yay!

So we have had a busy week.

Playcenter on Monday. Cooper had an awesome time again. I got the first sections of my workbook signed off which was nice. Cooper did well. Loved the sand pit, the paint (it tasted good too) but wasn’t too keen on the shaving cream. He did however manage to slide down the slide all by himself (sat down and spun his legs around then slid down)… very cool

Tuesday was a home day – very boring but we had takeaways Tuesday which wasn’t too bad.

Wednesday was out first visit to the Lower Hutt library. Cooper loved it. We happened to turn up when the children’s book session was on and Cooper was entertained for all of about 4 minutes while they were singing. But he was happy to look through the mezzanine floor that is the children’s area. After that we had afternoon tea in Riddiford Gardens and Cooper got to feed the ducks. We had a play on the park equipment and headed up to get Tim from work.

Thursday was our housekeeping day and time at home. Boring really… Oh the really cool thing was that Cooper’s Trunki arrived from FlyBuys. He loves it!

Friday – swimming lessons and two naps. Poppa and Nana Poppa arrived – late due to plane troubles but here none-the-less.

Saturday – Markets and Cooper playing around with Max and Di.

Words of the week: Uh-Oh and Up (with action). He has also extended on Gone quite a bit.

Work for me – busy busy. Meghna is away at the moment so I have to keep up with her stuff as well as my own. Good but getting used to a small stress has been a bit rough. Used to stress but this is a different type to get the hang of again.

Yep, another week has gone by – surprisingly fast.

Cooper loved Playcentre again – I wrote a post and posted pictures about it here. I also had my first work deployment and Sprint 1 was released into production. It went really smoothly and the guys were impressed with the work that I had completed. I am really chuffed about that

Tuesday – Tim worked from home in the morning and had the afternoon off. It was wonderful having that extra afternoon – we just mucked around, headed out to Butlers cafe, got Avatar on Blu-ray (it was awesome too) and went to the bank (to get end of financial year stuff for the accountant). We also heard back from State – they have accepted the claim and are paying out. The assessor couldn’t find any damage to indicate the drop but said that there was water damage (WTF!). They said that they could smell it and that there was evidence of arching. We haven’t ever spilt anything on the lappy but Tim thought maybe it could be Cooper’s dribble. But we just don’t know for sure… strange…

Wednesday – Toy Library and Library return day. We got three new awesome toys (although I was broken) but Cooper loves them non-the-less. We dropped the E-O-Y accounts off at the accountant and headed home. Library books were a must in the afternoon and we shot up to collect Tim from work.

Thursday – Grocery day and Reg over for dinner. A lovely batch of homemade fish and chips – Mmmmmm… Cooper also started blowing bubbles in the bath

Friday – Swimming lessons. Cooper has started blowing bubbles in the pool too which is awesome. Even our swimming instructor said that Cooper was doing just swimmingly (LOL). Pork for dinner which Cooper just devoured! Reg came over and we watched Avatar again (first time for her and second for us).

Today… Cooper woke 5.55am (think it might be teeth), Markets, Tim into have his eye’s tested, Lee’s to fix computers, nap time for Cooper, Chris, Ness & Ella came over to visit for the afternoon (and for me to have a look at some sewing that I may be doing for Ness). Pizza for dinner tonight (yummy homemade chicken pizza tonight)… and Cooper is off to sleep in dream land.

Tomorrow, I think we have to take a laptop back to Lee’s and we may head down to the Lower Hutt Library – we have been through the majority of the books at Stokes Valley so we really need some change. The selection of books at the War Memorial is so much greater so we are going to have a look…

Words of the week – Chuggtin (for Chugginton), Gone, Poppa and Bubble. As well as stringing a lot more words together “Dad Gone”, “Nana Gone” as well as the sign for Gone.

Well first week back for most things…

Last Sunday was a chill out day. We made a robot costume for Cooper to play in and he loved it!

We were supposed to have Cooper’s first Playcentre day on Monday but something important came up that Tim and I needed to do so we did that instead. He will start instead on Monday coming…

On Tuesday, Reg came around with one of her little fella’s that she cares for – Theo. He was a real sweetie and only 2 months younger than Cooper. They took a bit of time to get used to each other but came around in the end and were old buddies by the time Theo went to leave.

Wednesday was Toy Library and Library Books day. Cooper got all trucks and trains this time from the library (his own choice). And we have some new books to keep him entertained. One particularly good book is called Little Pea. It’s about a little pea that is a pretty happy chappy. It goes through how he likes to do different things, such as roll down hills and hang out with his friends but that he doesn’t like to eat candy as the main course every night for dinner (cause that is what peas eat). The book works through him reluctantly swallowing not just one piece but five, in order to have his favorite dessert–spinach.

We also caught up with all the Antenatal girls at Bec’s house and we all got to have new cuddles with Alex. It is amazing to see all the kiddies now as they are all walking (or should I say tearing around).

I also caught up with Pia briefly Wednesday night and she was wonderful and brought some yummo rice bubble cake…

Thursday we were going to head into town but there was a car accident on the motorway so we decided to avoid it. So we chilled out and then headed up to get Tim and do the grocery shopping. Thursday night Cooper broke my laptop (pulled it off the table) so we were a little gutted about that. We have put in a claim on insurance but decided that we should just get a new one anyway. Cooper also turned 16 months old so we got a photo of him…

So on Friday, we shot down to Lower Hutt and got a new laptop. Tim got the new one and I got his older one. We are so lucky that we have Time Machine running to do all our backups as it made it a lot easier to recover everything.

Friday afternoon we had swimming and Cooper got back into the swing of things again which is nice. I think that he is now the oldest kid in the class, but it wasn’t a full class yesterday so will have to wait and see if the others come back (from last term as it would make him second or third oldest in the class).

This morning we were up and off to the markets. Only $10 for all the fruit and veges today which is nice. And I got a good bunch of radishes ($1) and a decent lettuce too (only $1).  Booked Tim in to see the optician in two weeks time as he hasn’t had his eyes tested since 2004-2005. We are both looking at getting some sunglasses made up for us so that traveling and outings wouldn’t be so bad.

I think that is about it.

Word of the week: Zoom (still)

Plus new words/improvements on words: cone is a new one (lots of road cones down by the library)… improvements on truck, duck and what’s this (used to sound like oh shit but more like what’s this now)

Oh work is good. Trucking along nicely. Not too many hiccups but I am tired as this is my first week. Enjoying working (even if it is at night) as it give my brain something else to think about.

Right, off to vacuum the car while Cooper is asleep. Have washed his car seat today so we thought we should clean the car too…

– EDIT –

Oh I also forgot to mention that this week Cooper has really been into reading books with me – Reg thinks that it might be something to do with his thirst for knowledge and expanding his language base. He loves books and seems to always be sitting down with one. On another side note, I have also been told that children Cooper’s age shouldn’t be able to complete puzzles like he is doing or matching items up so we may have a little smart cookie on our hands.

School holidays are in full swing now and that means that a lot of Cooper’s activities have been suspended.

So we are having to find new ways to entertain our little monster. We have managed to keep him reasonably happy and I am glad that everything starts back again on Monday.

So this term we are going to try Playcentre. Cathy brought down some awesome playcentre clothes – nice and sturdy but okay to get dirty which is exactly what I needed.

To recap from last time I posted. Cooper finished his swimming lessons for the term. He hasn’t progressed into the next grade just yet as he is only just blowing bubbles. I also think that height is a factor in the next class and he is only 80cm tall – which is the depth of the pool so he can’t quite keep his head above the water.

We caught up with Tony and Kate in Paraparaumu. Cooper had fun at the beach. He got to wear his new gumboots, see a big tractor and even managed an impromptu swim.

Cathy came down on the Monday of Easter and spent the Tuesday with Cooper which was nice. She took about a million photos (but who wouldn’t – Cooper is that cute!) and even got a few photos of her and Cooper together.

I made Cooper a cape from the fabric that his Grandma gave him for Easter. It was actually quite nice. The money they could have spent on chocolate and crap was spent on something far better and we didn’t have a hyperactive child on our hands. Pic here

I met up with my new contractee and have gone through their site with them. It is pretty straight forward – so I don’t think I will have too many issues with them. I also started my first Test Plan in 16 months which I was a little nervous about but I found my groove again and think that I got it down pretty good. Kinda strange and nice to be using that part of my brain again. But I can certainly say that I don’t see myself returning to it full time unless I really need to.

Oh and last weekend Cooper and I caught up with Meghna, Dylan, Maya, Ro and Brooke at Chipmunks in Tawa. It was the first time Cooper had been to one of those indoor play areas. He loved it. I also really enjoyed catching up with Meghna and Ro – nice to chat with old friends. It took Cooper a wee while to get used to the place but in the end he kept showing me where he wanted to go (and then going there himself).

We have also been having dinner with Cooper at 6pm instead of eating after Cooper had gone to bed. It has been working quite well and he has been trying more and more new foods. By new foods, I mean new combos… he has tried chicken fried rice, homemade fish and chips (in a chinese batter) – you get the idea.

Oh and finally Cooper is a little monkey – quite literally – climbing EVERYTHING! I was cleaning up some mess Cooper had made in the lounge only to turn around to find him standing on the dining room table! He had gotten his stool from the bathroom (that he uses to brush his teeth), put it against a chair that he had pulled out from the table and climbed up. And there he was standing in the middle of the table giggling his head off, thinking he was the king of the world. Monkey!

Cooper’s word for last week: “Arcchh” (it’s the noise I make when Cooper shouldn’t be doing something and what he says when he means no)

Cooper’s word for this week: “Zoom!”

We had a triple whammy after Cooper’s 15 month vaccinations.

Firstly, he wasn’t sleeping all that great because of the vaccinations (common apparently). Secondly, he caught the tail end of what Tim and I had (thank goodness I had passed through most of the immunities with my breast milk) which resulted in really high temperatures. And thirdly, he has started the next batch of teething (confirmed by the doctor)… so we had a little boy that was waking often in the night and being a very difficult boy indeed (I believe I may have asked for my old child back as the demon child I had been given clearly wasn’t mine – tee hee).

But he seems to have settled down which has given me the opportunity to catch up on everything – finally!

So here it all is:

I got a job – yep a job! Part time testing for Star Now. And the great thing about it is that I can do it all from home. The guys are awesome – I’ve worked with them before and I get to work with Nutmeg again which is really nice. And I certainly wont be complaining about the wee bit of extra cash coming in. Yay! I start next week so I am all geared up for that – although I fully expect to get mummy brain in the beginning.

I made a scoodie – a scarf/hoodie. Here it is in its almost finished state. Since the pic was taken, I have edged all the scarf and closed the end off.

I have caught up on housework – yay!

I made a new smock to wear when Cooper is painting. He has one, now so do I. It will save washing extra clothes when I get paint hand prints on them.

I made Cooper a flannel fitted sheet for his cot:

And here is Cooper demonstrating how he will sleep in it tonight:

I am sure that there was more because it feels like I have been going going going going going … you get the picture.

Easter now, we are supposed to be catching up with Tim’s Dad and Step-mum tomorrow and then Tim’s mum is down on Monday. She is bringing some clothes down for Cooper to wear to Playcentre – yay!

I think that is about it – well that is all that my brain wants to divulge right now.

Ciao!

PS: Mum daylight savings tonight. We are rolling back!

Almost three weeks in fact…

But I have been busy and tired and busy and tired and am I repeating myself???

Work

I am all finished up with work now. My last day was the 28th of November so as at now I am on Maternity Leave. Over the last three weeks I started handing everything over to my other team members and have reduced the number of packages that I have been working on. My last major package went out last week and was the final move from Smaps maps in Trade Me Property to Google Maps. A big project with a lot of background changes but it is out and working really well. In fact, Google Street View was launched today also and is a great addition to the Trade Me Property.

Antenatal Classes

All finished up for now, I think some of the girls from the class are planning a get together. Aparently we should now be ready to have a baby…. LOL… But all things considered Tim and I are pretty organised. We have packed the bags and we have our check list. We are telling people AFTER the little guy arrives to avoid the “are we there yet” phone calls when I am actually in labour.

Baby Shower

On the 22nd of November, Catherine and Ro turned up and ran my Baby Shower. I had over 20 girls turn up to gossip, eat and open presents for myself and the little dude. The food was fantastic – Catherine did a super fab job and I was totally blown away with the effort and lengths that she went to. I (myself and the little dude) also got some awesome presents from everyone. Clothes, Toys and Funky knick-knacks. I know that Miss Kitty is currently having photos developed and is putting them into an album so I am looking forward to seeing that.

Little Dude

So the countdown is still on. 5 weeks and counting. I am not sure if I should be counting down in weeks or days – 35 days or 5 weeks… Hmmmmmm… He has stopped growing (up into my ribs) and has started growing out. So I have a HUGE puku. I am getting tired in the afternoons now and the little guy is being quite an active little monster. But I saw Grace on Monday and she has said that he has a very strong heartbeat which is excellent and hasn’t changed position in the last fortnight which is great. He is still LOL (yeah I know – it didn’t feel too funny when he rolled into that position). Oh LOL means Left Occiput Lateral which is one of the most common positions for babies before they engage.

We have a scan booked for the 19th of December (I will be 37.5 weeks) which is a sizing scan. It isn’t anything bad – the little dude is fine – we are checking his measurements to confirm that he is still on track for the original due date and also checking the amount of fluid around the little guy to ensure that it is safe for me to go over my due date. Soooo hopefully we will have a squished face pic of the little dude just before Christmas.

That is about it I think. I am about to shoot out to a Dev/Test Team lunch at Wagamama so I had better get a wriggle on (me little dude not you!)…