5th Anniversary and the Zoo

On Tuesday Ammon had his check up and is staking on the weight nicely. I'm finding feeding him to be the most difficult part of having a new born. I get horribly nauseous each time I have to feed him. Apparently it should resolve by 8 weeks so I'm hoping that's true. The guilt from even considering giving him formula is already making me feel terrible.

On Friday I took the kids to the zoo by myself. 1 bus and 2 trains later we arrived. I'm not sure if I was brave or insane. In the end we all had a great day. I packed the kids lunches which they wanted to eat straight away. Lili got yoghurt all over herself, but that was only the start of it for her. By the end of the day she was covered in ice cream, yoghurt, dirt and chocolate cake. Why I thought a white top was a good idea for her I will never know. When we arrived at the zoo I could smell a stench that was that all familiar new born nappy smell. This was the foulest smelling nappy I have ever changed in my life. Both Auron and I were gagging. Some had leaked out onto his pants and being the organised person I am, I didn't bring a change of clothes. Luckily it was a nice hot day so I striped him down to his onesie and away we went. The kids loved the seals and penguins the most followed by the butterflies and elephants. Earlier in the week I had made them little booklets to fill in and little activities to do while we were there. Auron and I sat down on the grass to fill in his, while Lili freaked out about the seagulls getting too friendly. I think we need to work on Aurons drawing skills, he definitely inherited my lack of drawing ability. Lili is way more on to it in the drawing department. Soon enough Lili was asleep so Auron and I got another iceblock and headed back to the train. This time I rang Aarahi to come pick us up from a different station so we didn't have to change trains. An exhausted Auron fell asleep almost as soon as his bum hit the seat. Once we got home Aarahi took them for a swim to cool down.

Later on Friday night my cousin came over to look after our big kids while Aarahi and I went out for dinner to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. It was a the perfect night out, Ammon was well behaved and we managed to hold a conversation uninterrupted. There's not much more we could have asked for. We went all out for dinner ordering mocktails and dessert....because we are crazy like that haha.

Today was church as usual. I should mention how much I hate afternoon church! After church was done Lili screamed down the carpark because she was desperate for a sleep. I couldn't really blame her, she usually has a good 2 hour naps but had skipped it so we could get to church. Sigh...I'm going to have to figure out what to do about that one. If anyone has any great suggestions let me know.

A half captured smile?

We have a mouse which has been escaping Aarahi's traps...he was successful last night in capturing him though.

Lili's protest to come out of her room fell on deaf ears and she fell asleep by the door.

Getting Back to Normality

This week I finally feel like we have some normality back. I think most of that is due to Ammon sleeping a lot better during the night. He has had a lot of problems with an upset tummy which we have managed to find a cure for. Now that I look back I think that was probably the cause of Lili's terrible sleeping which we are still suffering the consequences of.

The kids and I made a trip into town by ourselves on the bus which was kinda of liberating. I've been going a bit crazy feeling stuck at home. All went well and Lili and Auron were pretty excited to get back to our normal shopping excursions.On Friday we are going to take a trip into the city on the train to go to the Zoo. Auron has been asking for a few months to go so I thought it was about time. 

On Tuesday Aarahi slept through his alarm so we declared it family day and went to the movies to see Big Hero 6. It's a pretty awesome movie. Lili was a bit of a pain during the movie but it was a cinema full of kids and babies so we weren't all that concerned about her annoying other people. Auron gave me his new Spiderman that he got for Christmas from Grand-Nana, to look after at the movies. I some how lost it. I felt terrible, to the point I was losing sleep over it at night. Everytime he would say prayers he would ask to bless Spidey, and how sad he was that he was lost. We tried to find  a replacement but it seems they are all sold out. We did settle on a black Iron Man which I have been told is called War Machine. Auron calls him Washing Machine though which Aarahi and I find entertaining. 

On Saturday we went out for dinner to a New Zealand fish n chip and burger place. It was preeeeety good. Tasted like home that's for sure, complete with L & P, Watties Tomato Sauce and K Bars.

Now I need to go clean my house which was perfectly tidy when I went to bed last night....sigh

We are back

....And we are back. Well hopefully, I hope to be better at writing this year but life is busy. I kind of lost momentum when I got pregnant with Ammon but now that, I am past that long exhausting pregnancy I should be better. Not that a newborn is much easier.

The Matthews family are in for a big year. After a year of watching our pennies (probably why you havent seen much of us over there) we have started the process of building our home. All going to plan we should start the actual building sometime mid year. We have a wedding on the cards for July but that will most likely just see Ammon and I head over for....unless my mum gets sooky and pays for the other kids. We have also booked in a holiday to somewhere warm and tropical for later in the year. Aarahi has worked his butt off the past year and deserves a relaxing holiday so that's what we are doing. I even let him pick the destination. But as with everything who knows what the year will really bring. Plans may change and we will just have to roll with it.

Our newest addition is fitting in well, I think it's been easier with 3 than when I only had one. Auron is completely smitten by him, Lili has taken a while to warm up to him. On the day we brought him home she declared to all that would listen that "baby is yuck!'' We are praying Ammon doesn't follow in his siblings sleeping habits, so far so good. We haven't had an all nighter yet (touch wood)

Summer is well and truly in full swing here with 40 degree days nothing out of the ordinary. We bought an aircon unit so its been a lot more tolerable but it still sucks. I really really hate summer. Yesterday was 38 today is 18 though so go figure.

Auron is enjoying taking advantage of my lack of time and energy to enjoy watching far too much tv and way too many youtube clips. I'm giving myself another week before we are back in to our normal routine of school work and activities. We will be continuing with the reading eggs program, which he has done really well with, When we tested last his reading age was 4.75 but I imagine that it would have slipped a bit over the past month or so. He's enjoying pointing out the letter and words he knows in books and out and about. We will also complete the Heart of Dakota preschool program again. It's more fun than anything else.

Liliana is our Miss Mischief. Out of all of them she  is the one that will send me to the loony bin. It must be the curls. She loves learning and will probably join Auron in his school work this year. She desperately wants to read but its a bit beyond her although she likes to think she can, At the moment she is quite concerned about possession and who's things belong to who. Heaven forbid anyone use something that doesn't belong to them.

Aarahi took a permanent position at his work so now he gets more money, paid holidays, sick leave and rostered days off. He still enjoys his work and the crazy hours. Personally I think anyone who wants to get up to go to work at 4am is a little bit insane. He is look forward to all his extra work paying off with a new house and dishwasher.

So that's it for now.

I shall leave you with a few photos of our cute little ones