Six Months Later

WOW! I cannot believe I haven't blogged anything for six months! Has it really been that long? Guess we've been kinda busy. And hibernating for the winter. And I've been really far behind with sorting, naming and uploading photos, and don't like blogging if I don't have photos to go with it. The problem is that we do too much stuff, and then take too many photos of it, and then we get too busy doing other stuff to sort through the previous photos and before you know it there's 100+ photos to sort through. Plus we take all our photos on burst mode (takes five photos at a time) because the kids are always moving and it you take five at a time at least one of them will turn out ok. But I've managed to catch up on the photos and now I can blog again. Also I think part of the problem is Victoria not having naps any more. So that's an hour a day I don't have up my sleeve any more.

But where to start??? Well, let's see. There haven't been any real life changing events for us the past six months. We're still living on our little farm just outside Levin, Peter's still driving to Palmerston North and back every day for work. Victoria has just turned three and Kathleen will be five in January. The girls and I go to Playcentre on Tuesdays and Wednesdays now, and Kathleen goes to daycare Thursdays and Fridays. Victoria joins her on Thursdays and since her birthday has started going by herself on Mondays too. I chose to do it this way so that I would have one day a week with each girl on their own, and it would also give Victoria the chance to get used to going to daycare without Kathleen, before Kat starts school next year.

This term Kathleen has been attending "four-year-old school", which is run one afternoon a week at one of the local schools. It gives four year olds the opportunity to sit in a classroom with their peers and listen to a teacher, and also doing activities around a different letter each week. It's given her the chance to get used to sitting on the mat, putting up her hand when she wants to speak, listening to instructions, etc.

The last two weeks Kat has also been having visits at the school she will attend next year. She's been going for one morning a week, sitting in with the current Year 1 class. She knows at least five of the children in this class from the various preschools and activites she has attended. They won't be in her class next year, but at least she will have some friendly faces in the playground to look out for. When I've asked Kat what she's done at school, she has told me all about what she did at playtime but not so much about the classwork. Her teacher has given me her classwork and it's all been really good so I suspect she's just more interested in playtime because that's where she's learning the most. The first week she learnt to play hopscotch and the second week she learnt about tennis and bouncing a basketball. She has two more visits scheduled before the end of the school year.

Kathleen's learning is coming along really well and I think she will probably find school too easy. She is doing well at reading and can read several simple books, partly from remembering the story, partly from looking at the pictures and partly just reading. Her writing is doing well and she's working on her lower case letters. She absolutely loves drawing. Especially drawing people and faces. When she gets going she will sit down and draw picture after picture.

Even Victoria is getting in on it too. She has started drawing faces with eyes and mouths. She has also started wanting to write her own name. At Playcentre we write all the childrens names on their artwork and encourage them to do so if they want to. Victoria can draw a V and will attempt all the other letters (even if sometimes they don't look much like it). She is recognising some letters - V, K, M, and O for sure and I think maybe I and T, and I don't know what else. She also recognises most of the numbers too and can count to about 15.

Ok, so what have we been doing since I last posted anything?

Kathleen is still going to ballet. After a three week break during the school holidays, she was ready to go back again for another term and we are still going once a week. Have tried a couple of times to see if Victoria wants to do it too. She says she does, but as soon as she gets on the dance floor she freaks out and grabs me around the neck and won't let go. So I don't think she'll be the performer in the family.

At the end of July Peter's sister and brother and brother's girlfriend came to visit from Texas. The girls loved having Aunty Mardie, Uncle Richard and Taylor to play with and climb on and entertain them. We also took the opportunity to take the girls up the mountain to play in the snow, and take the Texans to Taupo for a few days. While there we also caught up with Peter's other sister.
We left home on the Sunday morning and got to the mountain in the afternoon. We went to Whakapapa skifield but the visibility was poor and it started snowing. We did a bit of playing in the snow and sledding but the weather just got too miserable and so did the kids. So we hid out in the chalet instead. Monday morning dawned bright and clear, and we went to Turoa skifield where we all had a lot of fun. Throwing snowballs, building a snowman, sliding down the slope. Tried some more tobogganing but the run was quite fast and neither girl enjoyed it too much. But overall I think they both enjoyed going to the snow and we'll have to do it again next winter.

September brought the Canterbury earthquake and thankfully all my relatives escaped unharmed. A couple of days later brought flooding to our neck of the woods. The rain on the Tararua's came down Potts hill and flooded our neighbours paddocks across the road from us, went across the road blocking it off, and flooded the cafe paddocks next door to us too. As well as many, many other farms in the area. Luckily we escaped unscathed since we are up on the hill. Which was one of the many requisites we had when looking for a property to buy in the first place.

This year we celebrated Halloween with our friends from Palmerston North. Lou hosted an Irish party with Halloween theme. We all dressed up and took the girls out trick-or-treating around Palmerston North. It got off to a bad start when we first arrived at Lou's house, to be greeted by Poppy wearing a Scream costume. Both girls were frightened. Victoria got over it pretty quickly when Poppy took the mask off, and was happy to be picked up and cuddled by Poppy even when she put the mask back on. Kathleen however got very quiet and mopey and grumpy. She didn't want to go out trick-or-treating. She would only go if I held her hand, and wouldn't knock on any of the doors.
After the first couple of houses where Poppy and I did the knocking, Victoria got the hang of it and was running up to the doors but Kathleen was still hanging back. Most houses we went to/past had no one home, but of the ones where people were home, all but one had treats to give out to the children. Some even really got into the spirit of it. I suppose we were out for about an hour. By the end Kathleen had relaxed and was getting into it too, also running up to the doors without me. They got quite a lot of lollies out of it and there are still some in the cupboard to be eaten. We've been sharing it out a couple of lollies a day (although I've actually forgotten about it for a few weeks now). I'm pleased they didn't try to eat the whole lot in one go, they are happy to have 2 or 3 lollies and then put the rest back for another day.

One of the girls favourite places to go in Levin is the lolly and ice cream store. If Daddy gives them some money they will keep it to spend at the lolly store. Their favourites are lollipops and bubble gum.

Also around the time of Halloween we had Guy Fawkes. We took the girls to see the big fireworks display at Manfeild and also had our own fireworks at home. Once again, Victoria got into it and Kathleen was frightened and grumpy. I was a little disappointed with the Manfeild display, mostly because it was on a bit too late and the pre-event entertainment wasn't that great. The fireworks were great but Kat didn't enjoy them and her mood rubbed off on me. Our fireworks at home went better. At first both girls were a little wary of the sparklers until they learnt how to use them and they both enjoyed that. Kat didn't like the noise of the fireworks.

Victoria turned three last month. It felt like she had been two for a very long time. Her birthday was on a Playcentre day and she had a birthday cake at Playcentre with her friends. Then she had a birthday party at home the following Saturday, inviting two friends from Playcentre and two friends from daycare. I will try and write about it in a separate post.

And now we are facing the countdown to Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it. I've already planned everything I'm going to buy and hope to get that done next week. I bought advent calendars and both girls are enjoying opening one each day. Of course for Victoria it's all about the chocolate but Kathleen understands that when they're all gone it is Christmas Day. We're not planning to go away or do anything special for Christmas, other than open presents and have a big dinner. After having had a really crappy summer last year, this years summer is shaping up to be a good one. It's been hot and sunny just about every day since Labour weekend (end of October). I've been planting vegetables in the garden and have had to actually look after them and water them regularly. But other than that we are loving the warm weather and spending as much time outside as we can, until the sun gets too hot.

And that is where I think I will leave this update. I promise I won't leave it so long next time! We've got lots of fun times ahead in the next couple of months, with the end of the school/Playcentre year looming, Peter's birthday, Christmas, and Kathleen's birthday. We're hoping to have an active, outdoor summer with lots of trampolining, bike riding and swimming. Both girls are now tall enough to stand on the bottom of the swimming pool in town and have their head above water. Victoria has heaps of confidence and will probably learn easily, whereas Kathleen's not so keen to learn but still has fun in the water. I'm sure we're going to have lots of fun.

Cheers,
Margaret

Ballet

(Written on 1st July, published in December)

Kathleen was involved in a ballet show last weekend. She did one show on the Saturday afternoon, one on Saturday evening, and one on Sunday afternoon. Plus three rehearsals during the prior week.

I started taking Kathleen to ballet about nine months ago. She enjoyed dancing around the house so much I thought she would enjoy it. Plus one of her daycare friends goes too. Term 4 last year we went to the 3.30 Tuesday class. I would pick Kathleen and Victoria up from daycare at 3, but inevitiably we wouldn't leave there till 3.20 and would be rushing to get to ballet on time. This year she was in the 4pm class. Which meant that I would pick them up and then even if we left at 3.20 we'd still have to hang around for nearly half an hour before ballet started. It wasn't enough time to go home but it was too long to sit around and wait. So in term 2 I changed their daycare day to Thursday so that we would be home all afternoon Tuesday and could leave at quarter to four. It worked most times although there was at least one time when I forgot about it altogether!

I think Kathleen enjoyed ballet but I'm not totally sure. She would sometimes complain she didn't want to go, but then she complains about going to daycare too yet when I pick her up she says she'd had a great day and loves it there. At the beginning of this term the girls learnt the dance they were going to do at the show. About halfway through the term they started doing nothing but rehearsing this particular dance. At one point I commented to Kathleen that I was finding it quite boring now just doing the one dance, and how did she feel. She confessed she didn't like it either. Did I put the words in her mouth or did she really not like it? Well, ever since then she has been really complaining she doesn't like ballet, doesn't like doing the dance because she gets tired, and doesn't want to do the show.

I felt really bad and considered letting her stop. But I said to her that she just had to keep going till the end of term, do the show and then if she still didn't want to do it then we wouldn't go back next term. I felt torn - I didn't want to push her to do something she didn't want to do, but I didn't want her to think she could just give up everytime something hard came along.

Last week we had rehearsals on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at the theatre where the show was going to be, rather than at the ballet studio. Kathleen was very nervous / anxious / upset. She and the other six girls from her class had to sit together on the chairs, and the mums had to stand at the back of the hall. Kathleen didn't make a fuss, but when I checked on her she had tears running down her face saying she wanted to be with me. But I had to stay at the back and keep Victoria out of trouble. Soon it was time for them to do their dance and then we went home. That night she had nighmares. The second rehearsal went better, and the next one even better, as she got used to what would happen. She still kept saying she didn't want to do the show but I said she should.

Saturday afternoon I took Kathleen along to the theatre. I bought myself a ticket to watch the show and showed her exactly where I would be sitting. Then I took her backstage to get changed and ready. When the show began I ran around to my seat and was so proud watching her dance. I had tears pouring down my cheeks I was so proud of her. All the girls looked so good. Ok so they weren't in time and kept looking at the teachers to show them what to do. But the point was they were all there and looked so cute. They were mostly four or five year olds, with one three year old and one two year old. Afterwards I helped Kathleen get changed and then the two of us went back to the audience and watched the rest of the show.

By the Saturday evening and Sunday shows Kathleen was loving it. Her old fears had gone and she was her usual excited self. I'm very proud of her for sticking with it, even though she didn't want to do it. I'm glad she did it and found it was enjoyable after all. I hope she remembers this lesson in the future when she's up against something new or scary.

She still insists she doesn't want to go back to ballet next term, and I'm not going to make her. I think I'll enjoy not having to rush out each week as well.

-Megz

Potty Training Part V

Victoria is now 100% potty trained, both day and night. As I previously blogged, she has been going toilet during the day for quite some time now. I have now stopped giving her lollies every time she goes poos on potty as she was getting so good at it. It didn't turn out to be a big drama after all. I just said things like "it's too late at night for a lolly now" or "you still need to finish your lunch/dinner" and progressed to "you're a big girl now, you don't need lollies any more". And she just accepted that without question. Every now and then she still asks if she can have a lolly for going toilet.

Kathleen was never night-time trained until she was almost three and I was in no rush to take Tora out of nappies. Especially with the upheaval of moving bedrooms recently. However a few weeks back she woke up in the middle of the night and came upstairs to our room. "I need go toe-lit" she said. So we decided if she was capable of waking up in the middle of the night and knowing she needed to go toilet, and of holding on, that she really didn't need nappies any more. She'd been dry 90% of the time anyway.

So two and a half weeks ago I changed my last nappy and it feel GREAT ! Peter and I were going to have a No More Nappies party but got kinda busy with other things in the end.

However it has not meant the end of washing nappies. I still seem to be doing a load every week, as we now use them to clean up any accidents that the dogs have! Guess Tora ended up being toilet trained before Timmy after all.

-Megz

Catch Up

Well I have not blogged for quite a long time and have a lot to catch up on. Where to start?

Winter has just arrived here, and I am still grumbling about the lack of summer and wondering where it went. Summer didn't arrive till mid January, and then in mid March we were hit with a sudden cold spell. I said "it's ok, this will last a week or two and then we'll get one last hot spell before autumn really kicks in". Well 2-1/2 months later I'm still waiting for that hot spell, have stocked up on firewood, gotten the heaters out of storage and am still shivering after the frost this morning.

This kind of thinking has left me a little confused - I can't believe it's going to be June tomorrow because in my mind it's still the end of March and I'm still waiting for my hot spell of weather.

We have got a new family member. A new dog. Her name is Skye and she is about 11 months old and is a Border Collie. A girlfriend for Timmy (who is 15 months old now). They have been getting on like a house on fire. Absolute best friends who are inseparable. I have worried a lot about Timmy being on his own so much, so it is great having Skye to keep him company. However I think he's also teaching her a lot of his bad habits.

We are now halfway through school-term 2. The girls and I have had some rearranging in our weekly schedules. We now go to Playcentre two days a week, and my day off is now Thursday (when both girls go to daycare) rather than Tuesday. Kathleen goes to daycare three days a week but I will be cutting that back to two days next term I think. She is enjoying both preschools. Originally I didn't want to go to two preschools but the daycare is good because it is near her future school and it gives me a break, whereas Playcentre is great because it gives me adult company and opportunities, plus the kids have the choice to play with me or do their own thing. I am getting a lot more involved in Playcentre now and am working on completing the Course Two training, which I am enjoying.

Kathleen's reading is coming along well. She enjoys playing an online game called Reading Eggs where children play games involving letters and words (e.g. "Click on IS") without even realising that they're learning. I don't know how much of it she is retaining - some but not all I suspect - but aren't too worried about it. I'm not pushing her to learn to read, I don't want her to be too far ahead of her classmates, but she enjoys doing it so I'm not going to stop her either. It's hard to say how many words she actually knows because I think most of the time she is guessing what things say based on the first letter of the word and the context. Another part of Reading Eggs she enjoys is writing her own stories and entering the competitions. She is also enjoying having chapter books read to her at bedtime now (books with no pictures, just story).

Victoria is growing up so quickly. She seems to have gone up a new level recently. It's hard to put a finger on what has changed. She is talking in full sentences (e.g. saying "I want to go there" rather than "want go there"). She is partaking in conversations. She is talking to other adults and being understood a lot of the time. She seems to be coming out of her shell a lot more (although with some people she just clams up and hides behind me for some reason).

And the big news is that in the space of about a week, Victoria has dropped her nap, started sleeping in a big girl bed with no sides, and moved into Kathleen's room. We'd been planning the move for a while anyway. About a month ago the girls and I had a sleepover party one Saturday night and the three of us all slept in Kathleen's room together. Tora was in Kathleen's old bed, and I left the bed made-up afterwards.

Now Victoria's been ready to drop her nap for a while. A lot of the time I'll put her to bed after lunch and she won't go to sleep so I'll get her up after an hour. We're at that difficult inbetween stage - when she doesn't have a nap she's usually pretty tired and difficult by dinnertime, but if she does have a nap then she's not tired at bedtime.

Last week Kathleen said she was tired and asked if she could have a nap with Victoria. So they both got into Victoria's cot together and promised they'd go to sleep. I fully expected a lot of giggling and no sleeping. However, Kathleen climbed out of the cot, pulled a stool over and not only helped Victoria get out but taught her how to do it herself. They both came running out of the room giggling. So a few days later I put Victoria to bed for a nap (Kathleen was at daycare) and 10 minutes later Tora comes running out all by herself having climbed out of the cot. So that was the end of that. The sides came off the cot and now it is very difficult to get her to stay in bed.

Last Wednesday night Victoria decided she didn't want to stay in bed at nighttime either and came running out. I tried to catch her but she ran to Kathleen's room and jumped into the old bed in there. She refused to get out and said she wanted to sleep there. So that was that, and now the two girls are sharing a room. The logistics of which we are still working out. Kathleen likes listening to chapter books at night whereas Victoria doesn't. So still trying to figure out how storytime should work. And figuring out how to keep Victoria in bed. The other morning Kathleen woke up at 6.40am (very unusual) and called out for me, which woke Victoria up too. So we're still not even sure if sharing a room is really such a good idea after all. The reasons for sharing were: It's winter so we only have to heat one room instead of two; Victoria's room is small and Kat's is big, and Tora is going to want more room eventually, but the only other bedroom in the house is the guest room and the coldest room in the house.

Most days I've now stopped offering Victoria the option for a nap (the exception being when she's at daycare of if she's really tired), so that she will be sleepy at bedtime and go to sleep pretty quickly. The days she has had a nap it has been very hard getting her and Kathleen to go to sleep.

And one final development is that the girls are actually playing together now and becoming friends. They still have very different interests - Victoria loves to play with dolls and the dolls house whereas Kathleen likes creative endeavours. They also both LOVE playing computer games and will fight over the computer or watch each other play. However when there is nothing else to do they'll play with each other. Their games are often physical and involve either running around the room, running up and down the hall, or jumping off things. It's so great to hear the giggles and laughter as they enjoy themselves together. And it has freed me up a little bit too. Only a little though, as I soon get called back to sort out disputes. Lol.

Cheers,
Meg

Board Games

Playing Ludo with Kathleen
She has got three pieces home and just needs a 2 to get her last piece home. I still haven’t even thrown a 6 yet to get my first piece out of the starting box. I’m facing a down-trou and Kat’s chanting “I’m cheating, I’m cheating” (obviously having no concept of what cheating means, because she wasn't). I finally managed to throw a 6 and got one of my four counters halfway around the board before she got a 2 to win the game. She had great delight telling me I was PWNED.




Playing Snakes and Ladders with Victoria
Not far into the game she decides she doesn’t like the yellow square she’s on and that she likes the blue square better. The blue square is number 91. I go along with it and she happens to land on a snake and comes all the way back down to the bottom with me. Tora throws the dice and I move the pieces. It seems to be working well until she decides that she is mother and she should move the pieces to wherever she feels like. Then she announces the dice is a baby bird and she cradles it in her hands saying how cute it is. Needless to say the game is now over.

-Megz

Potty Training Part IV

This week I bought Victoria her very own big girl knickers. Not that it was that big of a deal as she has been wearing Kathleen's knickers for about a month now. Before that she was in Pull Ups for about a month.

This time round I've been a bit more hesitant about potty training. With Kathleen I just took the plunge and put her straight into knickers (after making a big fuss and taking her out shopping especially to buy big girl knickers). But with Victoria I was a little more scared to take the plunge. So we took the intermediate step of wearing Pull Ups first. However they didn't seem much different from wearing nappies. She was mostly dry but on the times she had accidents she didn't seem to really notice.

The other thing holding me back was the timing of when Victoria would go toilet. While she was good at doing wees when I would put her on the potty, she would usually do number twos only in her nappy. I didn't quite know how to handle this. I finally settled on bribery. Now if she goes in the toilet she gets a lolly. I'm thankful to say she has never had an accident since we started this. Now every time Victoria goes to the toilet she sings to herself "I go poos on potty I get lolly". Not sure how I'm going to get out of giving her lollies when the time comes but for now I'm still happy to do so.

Victoria also learned quite a while ago (like maybe six months ago?) that the best way to get out of eating her dinner was to announce she needed to "go toe-lit". Because like the good "stick-them-on-the-toilet-every-time-they-ask" parent, I would quickly grab her and take her potty as soon as she said she needed to. She very quickly learned that if she had had enough of eating and sitting still, all she had to do was say she needed to go toilet and I would get her out of the highchair and take her off to the bathroom. Now we're not stupid, we knew exactly what she was doing and how she was trying to manipulate us. So a few months back we called her bluff and said no. She wasn't bluffing and proceeded to go in her pants. Gross! This made me even more nervous about putting her in knickers. However we seem to be doing a lot better now. No more highchair accidents and we often try and get her to go toilet before dinner. This hasn't stopped her trying to get out of dinner by professing a need to go. But she has been able to hold on if we say no, so that is an improvement.

Over summer Victoria also spent a lot of time running around outside naked. If she needed to go in the grass she would, no big deal. Last week I took her and the dogs to the dog park. She needed to go toilet so I said to go in the bushes. So she walked in, squatted down and went wees. Without taking her trousers off first!!! So the poor little thing had to walk about with wet trousers until we got home. That'll teach her.

-Megz

The End of Summer

Another summer, another vacation is over
A September morning with the sun and the smell of the clover
Down by the gate we sit and we watch all our friends go by
And pretend we don't hear the bell that rings through the summer sky

"Heartbeat" - George Michael

Except that summer has only just begun in the last couple of weeks, and it is February not September. But the sentiment is the same - the summer holidays are over and it's time to go back to preschool, and yet I don't really want to.

Kathleen and Victoria went back to daycare last week (1 day for Tora, 3 for Kat). Playcentre and ballet start back this week and playgroups next week.

When the summer holidays began six weeks ago I thought it would be a very long summer with two pre-schoolers at home every day. But it's actually turned out to be pretty good. Except perhaps when Kathleen wants to play Sleeping Beauty for the umpteenth time.

We've been keeping pretty busy. We've gone for a long drive about once a week, to either Palmerston North, Paraparaumu or Wellington. I thought the car trips would be difficult but Victoria is generally pretty happy in the car and Kathleen now enjoys playing games as we drive. Plus we've listened to copious amounts of Wiggles, general kids music and ABBA. Yes, both girls are big fans of Mamma Mia the musical. Sometimes when we've had a bad day I'll put the singalong on, and we'll all dance and sing and shout and be silly, and it really lifts our spirits.

The weather for the first half of the holidays sucked, very wet and cool. But the last couple of weeks have been hot and sunny. Victoria has spent most of January naked. Her potty training is coming along quite well, and most times she'll use the potty rather than have an accident. But I'm not sure I'm ready to take the plunge into knickers just yet.

I guess one thing that has helped the holidays go quickly is all the distractions we've had with Christmas and Kathleen's birthday, Peter being home for a couple of weeks over Christmas, and Peter's mum coming to stay a couple of weeks ago. Plus we've been to the zoo, movies, library, playground. There's been no shortage of things to do.

I think the thing I've enjoyed the most over the summer has been just not having to rush out anywhere in the mornings. We've been able to get up and take our time over breakfast, sometimes even watching TV while we eat. And if we don't finish breakfast or get dressed till 10am, then that's fine. Or if we don't get dressed at all, that's fine too.

However seeing the smiles on the girls faces when I picked them up from daycare last week, not smiles of being happy to see me (although there was some of that) but smiles because they'd had a great day, reminded me that although it can be a pain being having to rush out the door every morning and being so busy, it is actually worthwhile for them to interact with other kids. So while I may be sad that our special time is at an end, I know that they're still happy and enjoying themselves wherever they are. And that's all that matters.

-Megz

Four Years Old

Tomorrow Kathleen will be Four. Such a big girl. She seems a lot older than that sometimes. Her friends are all older than her, some are four and some are already five. I worry a little what will happen when her four-year-old friends turn five and go off to school. She will just have to play with some of the younger children I guess. Kathleen is practically ready for school already and I think this is going to be a very long year waiting till she can go to school. She knows her alphabet, can read and write all her letters. She can read some words and knows how to sound the letters out to read the word, but gets frustrated sometimes. Over the school holidays we've hired a couple of board games from the Toy Library. One is called Bus Stop and you play by adding or taking away passengers from your bus whether you land on a + or - sign. So Kathleen has been learning some maths basics as well.

Last weekend Kathleen had her birthday party. She had a lot of fun. It was my first time hosting a children's party so it was a learning experience for me. Kathleen invited three friends - Erik, who's 5th birthday party she went to in November, and Carmel and Jamie-Lee from her preschool, and all our Palmerston North friends. Unfortunately Carmel had to cancel at the last minute. So there were three 4 & 5 year olds, plus Victoria and Phoebe who are both two. Victoria has been watching her big sister a lot so she joined in on the game of Simon Says (Dimon Dez), but mostly it was just Kathleen and Erik playing all the games. Everyone joined in for Pass the Parcel, which was very popular.

Tomorrow is Kathleen's actual birthday. She doesn't know it yet but she will be getting a brand new bunk bed. Followed by a trip to Palmerston North to buy the duvet of her choosing (please, please don't choose Princesses). She is still sleeping in the same Touchwood cot (with sides removed) that she's had since she was born. But her feet now reach the very end so it is time for an upgrade. We're getting bunks that convert to single beds. The idea is that when Victoria is older they can share a room and Kat will have the top bunk, but for now the second bed will live in the spare room.

If I were to make a prediction, I would say Kathleen will have a career in the performing arts, whether as an actress or as a writer. Her passion is definitely drama. Today for example all she wanted to do was to play act the stories of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, etc, etc, etc. I wish she could get her toys and play the stories with them, but she needs human interaction and feedback and so I got roped in to play these games with her. She has always loved play acting, whether it is simple pretend games or playing out fairy tales like we did today, or acting out the movies and TV shows she loves to watch. When she's not acting or watching TV or playing computer games, she likes to look at books and make up her own stories. She has quite a vivid imagination. We've gone for a lot of long drives lately and Kathleen likes to talk the entire time. When we get sick of playing eye spy or guess the song she will just start talking to herself and telling stories. I'll even suggest a title for the story and she will make up something appropriate.

Just before Christmas we travelled to Wellington so that Kathleen could audition for the TV show Giggles. You can see a copy of her audition here. Giggles is a silent show so you can't hear anything. You just have to imagine she's being told to jump or fly or roll, etc. Towards the end I got so caught up in watching Kathleen that I forgot to hold on to Victoria, and Vicky wandered in to the shot too. It was more of a fun opportunity for Kathleen to see what it's like to make a TV show. We weren't seriously hoping to get on the show (although it would have been nice). Haven't heard anything back from them so assume this means she didn't make it.

Kathleen's other loves are Princesses, Fairies, Barbie movies and Barbie computer games but not Barbie dolls.

I am debating whether or not Kathleen needs a haircut. Her hair is beautiful but it also gets messy and knotty a lot and she hates having it brushed (nowhere near as much as she used to though). She got given a ton of hair ties and things for her birthday but the only thing she likes wearing are headbands. Her hair is now reaching down her back and is a good length. I don't think I would like it to be any longer than this. But I can't bear the thought of cutting her baby curls off. The curls are only at the ends of her hair now, maybe because of the weight but I'm afraid if we cut them off then they'll be gone for good and I would be very sad. So I'm not sure. When I first suggested it a month ago she was all for it, but now she doesn't want to. So I guess I'll leave it for a little bit more and see how she feels in another month or two.

Cheers,
Megz

PS: More photos to come soon

New Years Resolutions

Well another year over and time to review one's Resolutions from last year and to make new ones for the new year. I don't think I did too badly last year. It's been helpful to put my resolutions out publicly (even if nobody reads it) because I feel more pressure on myself to achieve them.

So here are my resolutions from last year:

1. Blog more often. At least once a month on this blog, and once a week on my farming blog. Plus help Kathleen and Victoria to blog once a month too.
Well, I started off pretty well but it got worse as the year went on. I managed to keep my farm blog updated once a week, but the monthly updates for the other blogs slipped to two-months then three-months then more. The only time I have available for blogging is in the evenings after the girls are in bed. Initially the updates fell behind because it was winter and the winter was cold, and I just wanted to get into a warm bed at night rather than sit up on the computer. Plus we weren't doing anything very interesting over winter. And then in September we started watching LOST again. With the next and final season beginning in February, I suggested we re-watch seasons 1-5 to refresh our memories of what had happened before. It's a very complicated show and things made so much more sense the second time around, knowing what we'd learnt in subsequent seasons. I fully hope season 6 will wrap up all the remaining loose ends. However, what this has meant is that 5 or 6 nights a week we have been watching an episode of LOST rather than doing other things, such as blogging. And for all that we're still only partway through season 4. It's not looking likely that we'll finish season 5 before season 6 starts on Feburary 2nd.

2. Find more time for myself to relax, play Sims, read, etc.
See previous answer. I started off the year well but as time has gone have slipped to the point where I again have very little time for myself. Peter has helped and we now make sure each other has one night off a week and one day a month, although things have been so busy over Christmas that even that has slipped a little.

3. Toilet train Kathleen at night.
Done. Starting 1st January last year Kathleen stopped wearing nappies at night. She has the occasional accident but has been pretty good.

4. Complete the women’s triathlon in Palmerston North on the 24th of January.
Done. And I'd like to do it again this year too. But I've been putting it off a bit. Not sure we can afford the $50 entry fee at the moment.

My resolutions for this year are pretty similar to last year:

1. Blog at least once a month.

2. Find more time for myself to relax, play Sims, read, etc. Once we've caught up on LOST of course.

3. Toilet train Victoria. She's been using the potty on and off for many months now and knows what to do with it. With Kathleen I eventually had to just take the plunge and put her in knickers. I suspect I'll have to do the same with Vicky too. I'm just not quite sure either she or I are ready for it yet.

4. Complete the women’s triathlon in Palmerston North at the end of February.

5. Finish going through my Norfolk Island photos. Upload them to Flickr. Write a blog about my holiday.

So let's see how I go this year.

-Megz

The Noughties

Well, the first decade of the 21st century is over (unless you're a puritan who thinks it doesn't end till the end of 2010). Hard to believe really. The 90's still don't seem that long ago to me. I think 2010 has kinda snuck up on me in a way. It sounds really futuristic. Growing up in the 80's the Year 2000 was always there as some kind of futuristic milestone. And when it finally arrived we partied like it was 1999. However I never really thought any further past that. In the Year 2000 we were supposed to be flying round in hover cars and all that, wearing silver spandex. But the Year 2010 was even beyond futuristic. We were supposed to be living in space by then. Or maybe I've just been watching too many bad sci fi movies.

In any case, the end of a year always calls for reflections on the past, and the end of a decade even more so. Here are my top memories for the years 2000-2009:


Y2K - Why not include the turn of the century in this reflection. I remember New Year's Eve I worked late, till 8 o'clock I think, making sure everyone followed the procedures my colleagues and I had been working on all year. Making sure everyone that was going home turned off their computers, and that everyone that was still working knew what to do if the world ended and the computers melted down. I remember I went home to finish working on my outfit for that night (a shiny gold shirt). 10 years on I still keep my toenails painted gold (my homage to the future that we were promised? Nah I just think it looks cool). By the time I joined Peter and his friends at a bar on Courtenay Place, it was 10pm. They'd been partying for a while whereas I was stone sober. Didn't manage to catch up with them in terms of drunkeness but I still had a good time. Watched the fireworks from the wharf. Saw that the world did not end and the lights did not go out. Kept partying for a while longer. Considered staying up to watch the sunrise but ended up going home and crashing around 2 or 3am.


Early 2000 - Peter quit his job. He was going to go contracting and earn top dollars. We talked about moving to the States to live.

March 2000 - Peter and I jumped out of an aeroplane. For fun.

October 2000 - Peter and Phoenix play in their first big paintball event, at the NZ Nats in Auckland.

June 2001 - Peter gets asked to join the Saints paintball team, with regular training in Auckland.


September 11, 2001 - I'll never forget waking up to the radio alarm on the morning of September 12th. Pauline Gillespie was talking about the twin towers and how she couldn't believe they weren't there any more. And about how Nick had taken some contest winners there only a few months earlier. I wondered what she was talking about. I remembered there'd been a bomb there a while back and wondered if they'd had to demolish the towers. Peter got up. Then Pauline started talking about a plane. I realised there was more to it than that and got up as well. At the same time Peter came back into the room and told me I had to come and watch CNN. That's when I learned the whole truth. I was late for work that day. It didn't matter. The world as we knew it had changed forever. I was worried about my friend John who was living in Wisconsin and soon to be going to New York but I didn't know when. Luckily I heard from him later in the day and he was safe at home and hadn't been due to fly for another week. I'll never forget the images from that day. But I still can't watch them on the TV without covering my eyes. It's just too horrible.


Moving to Auckland - In October/November 2001 Peter and I decided to move to Auckland. Post Sept 11 we decided against moving to the States any more. His paintball team was in Auckland. My company's head office was now in Auckland. And my best friend was in Auckland. I applied for a job at head office and was accepted. Beginning of December we bought a house in Auckland. End of December the movers came to pack our stuff. We headed off on a two week holiday around the South Island before moving into our new house in early January 2002.


March 2002 - My 30th birthday. Planned several fun events that I'd never done before, such as ice skating and going to the comedy club. The comedy club became a regular haunt for us over the next four years.

November 2002 - My first trip to Northland. Paihia, Waitangi, the hole in the rock, Tane Mahuta, the car ferry at Rawene, Ninety mile beach, Cape Reinga.

Late 2002 - Begin gym membership at Les Mills Takapuna, and become a regular at Friday 5.40pm Body Jam sessions. A wonderful way to finish the week and blow off steam in a very fun manner.
By now we have also established a routine of Games Night every other Friday with Lou and Poppy.


Round the World Trip - My friend Tina moved to Oxford, England in 2002(?). I was dying to go and visit her as I love that part of the world and every time she sent photos back I was so jealous. In July 2003 Peter went to Texas to spend some time with his mum and family. In August 2003 I went overseas as well. I decided that since I was going all the way to England I might as well stop off in the States on the way and see friends there too. I spent a couple of days in Washington State with Peter's dad and family, and a couple of days in Chicago & Wisconsin with my friend John. Then I had a couple of weeks in England and had a great time, tripping around and seeing lots of things. Then, since I'd already stopped off in the States and England, I also stopped off in Moscow to visit my friend Tara. Which was a huge change after America and England.


December 2003 - Peter's 30th birthday which we travelled to Wellington for. Also Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King world premiere which I also travelled to Wellington for (for the street party, not to see the movie). Also we saw Robbie Williams and Duran Duran in concert in Auckland.

New Years Eve 2004/05 - Peter and I partied all night on K Road. Wish we'd done it more often.

February 2004 - Long weekend trip to Coromandel with Lou and Poppy to test out the tent before our overseas trip.


Big European Trip - After each going separately in the past, Peter and I finally went to Europe together in March/April 2004. After first playing paintball at Huntington Beach, California, we continued on to Europe, driving and camping through France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. It was a fantastic trip of a lifetime.


August 2004 - Peter's grandmother came out to visit us from the States. Took her on a whirlwind tour of the North Island. Came home to find our house had been burgled.

Christmas 2004 - Spent two weeks with Lou and her family at the pub at Kokatahi on the West Coast.

Boxing Day 2004 - The Indian Ocean tsunami. It was hard to appreciate the full extent of the tragedy while we were on holiday but it was obvious what a huge disaster this was. Stands out as one of the bigger "where were you when" moments of the decade.

February 2005 - Peter and I went to Australia for a paintball tournament in Rockhampton, preceeded by a holiday in Sydney and on Great Keppel Island where I went snorkelling for the first time.

April(?) 2005 - I became pregnant with Kathleen, which began the biggest change of my whole life. Some time after this Peter and I decided we wanted to move back to Wellington, and towards the end of the year he started looking for a job in Wellington.

July 2005 - The terrorist attacks on London. While it didn't affect me personally, it stands out as one of the bigger news events of the decade. Because it happened to the London I love. Kings Cross station, where I'd only been a year and a half earlier, where my friend Rose worked. Russell Square, where I'd stayed at a hostel only a year and a half earlier. My London.

October 2005 - Peter and I went to Australia for another paintball tournament.

November 2005 - My dad passed away suddenly. Definitely one of the hardest periods of my life. Too sad to really talk about it.

December 2005 - My last day at work. Ever.


Kathleen - Kathleen Isabel Hamilton was born on 21 January 2006 and has been by my side almost every day since then. An enormous challenge which I was little prepared for in the early days, but have since learnt a lot from this experience. And am still learning.


October 2006 - Peter finally got a job in Wellington. He moved to take up the position while I stayed behind to sell the house.

November 2006 - Peter's grandfather passed away and he rushed to Texas to be with him and the rest of the family.


Moving to Wellington - December 2006 Kathleen and I joined Peter in Wellington, where we stayed for the next two years.


February(?) 2007 - I became pregnant with Victoria. I decided Kathleen's first year wasn't too bad so why not try again. Haha.

March 2007 - Peter, Kathleen and I travelled to the States for his grandfather's funeral at Arlington national cemetary in Washington. Also visited family in Maine and Washington State.


Victoria - In November 2007 Victoria Melanie-Rose Hamilton was born in the front yard in Island Bay, in one of the more memorable events of the decade. Like Kathleen, she has been by my side almost every day since then too. This time the challenge wasn't so much how to look after a newborn, but how to care for two children with completely different needs.


April(?) 2008 - We found a house and property on TradeMe that we liked the look of. Had been looking at land in the Kapiti/Horowhenua/Manawatu on and off for a year or so but not looking too seriously. However we fell in love with the place and put in an offer.

October 2008 - Sold our house in Island Bay.


Moving to Levin - December 2008, Peter, Kathleen, Victoria and I moved to our current house near Levin. Beginning the second most ambitious lifestyle change of the decade.


May/June 2009 - Peter's father passed away and he again had to rush to the States to be with family.


Norfolk Island - November 2009 I enjoyed my first child-free holiday since Kathleen was born almost four years ago, with my best friend Lou, on Norfolk Island. It was a wonderful time, already relegated to the distant past, but which I will remember with fondness.


And so here we are. The end of the decade. What changes it has seen. Moving house three times. Losing several family members, not to mention the famous people the world has lost. Huge changes in terms of technology. Six overseas trips. And of course two children, who not only define my life now, but ARE my life. What a contrast from the happy-go-lucky 27 year old of 10 years ago.

The time they are a'changing. And always will be.

-Megz