Water slide - take 2!

Firstly, sorry for not updating sooner, but life has proved very normal this past week, nothing really to report!!

It has been scorching hot again, yesterday (Saturday) the digital thermometer in Rangiora High Street read 32 degrees when we went past at about 4pm. Phew! It was sweltering! The water slide came out again, and we had great fun... though Mummy had a bit of a disasterous wardrobe malfunction!! Got some great pics this time. Rune and Daddy had so much fun playing silly buggers, and Rio was hooting away as she watched all the shenanigans from her bouncer in the shade! :)

WATER SLIDE!

So the weather has been REALLY hot lately, so humid, it's hard to function in this heat! Sunday was another beautiful day, so we decided to buy a water slide (a length of plastic sheeting with a hose pipe attatchment - so it sprinkles water on the plastic sheeting and you slide along it..) ..Rune was very excited by the idea of a water slide, but I think he imagined an actual slide that you climb up steps and slide down, just with a bit of water! We didnt get home until about 6pm, by which time it had cooled down and was starting to spit with rain. Rune was soooo excited about the water slide, we set it up anyway and all had a go on it! It was really cold water, and Rune was a bit hesitant to go on it (Mummy and Daddy showed him how it was done!!) ...and with a bit of encouragement he started to play on it... and LOVED IT! My camera had run out of batteries so I didnt get any pictures, but next time I will be snap-happy and get heaps of pictures to put on here! It was great fun, we were out in the garden for about an hour, soaking wet and covered in bits of grass, but it was fantastic! Rune thought it was hilarious to slide along the plastic and crash at the end, and to splash water everywhere... and he loved pressing on the sprinkler bit to make the water shoot up really high in the air! The neighbours must have wondered what was going on - there was lots of hooting and laughter coming from our back garden!! Rio was enjoying watching all the dramas in her little bouncer chair... how much fun are we going to have when she's old enough to go on it too?! :D

In other news, we sold our Bluebird and have bought a 7-seater people mover (a Mazda MPV to be exact)... we got such a bargain with the people mover, we're absolutely stoked! Rogie is picking it up after work tonight, so we are very excited to take it for a spin and look at the empty seats and plan more babies to fill them!!!! ;) xxxx

Lotties Star

(Nanny Ali, this will make you cry... just a warning!)

We had a lovely BBQ at Nanny and Koro's house on Saturday, after Rogie and Koro spent the afternoon watching Casino Royale, and me (Sam), Rune, Rio, and Nanny Ali all went SHOPPING! It was a beautiful day, really hot, so we spent most of the evening in the garden, running around with Rune and the football that found its way into the garden! Rune went round the side of the house, down near Lotties little wee-wee pound, and asked where Lottie was.. stifling the tears and trying to sound as casual as possible, I told him that Lottie fell asleep, grew wings, and went to live in the sky. He was a bit confused by that, but was happy to blow kisses into the sky with me and say "Love you Lottie". He soon busied himself with the football again after that.

On the way home, dusk was closing in, and there was one star shining bright. Rune spotted it and said "Look Mummy, Look Daddy, a star!" ...so we both looked for it, and Rune started blowing it kisses and saying "love you Lottie, love you mwah mwah" ...so we have named that Lottie's star. Every evening, the first star that comes out - the one that shines really bright - thats Lotties star, and we blow it kisses.

We love you, Lottie! :)

...and to end on a different subject, the Plunket nurse visited us on Monday, Rio wouldnt stop smiling at her, even though I had to wake her up for her check! She's such a little show off! She weighs 11lb 10oz, and is on the 70th percentile. At this age, Rune was on the 20th percentile because my breast milk was failing him miserably. So I think it is safe to say that everything is going absolutely swimmingly with little madam! She's such an easy little baby :)

xxxxx

Related?

Rune and Rio at 2 months old... WOW. Rio is just a chubbier, darker version of Rune at this age. Absolutely amazing! Click on the picture to enlarge it :) xxx

Paw Prints on our Hearts

If it should be that I grow frail and weak,

and pain should keep me from my sleep,

then you must do what must be done,

for we know this last battle can't be won.

You will be sad, I understand,

but don't let grief then stay your hand,

for this day, more than the rest,

your love and friendship must stand the test.

We've had so many happy years,

what is to come can hold no fears.

Would you want me to suffer? So,

when the time comes, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they'll tend,

only stay with me until the end,

and hold me firm and speak to me,

until my eyes no longer see.

It is a kindness that you do to me,

although my tail it's last has waved,

from pain and suffering I have been saved.

Do not grieve, it should be you,

who must decide this thing to do.

We've been so close, we two these years,

Don't let your heart hold any tears.

Good night Lottie, sleep tight. We'll always love you, you'll never be forgotten. One day we'll meet again xxxxxx

Fat Lip :(

Poor Rune came home with a wicked war wound from pre-school on Wednesday, the kids were jumping from a beam onto a crash mat... Rune was having great fun doing this with the other children, but on one jump he totally missed the crash mat and smacked his face on the floor :( He has a scraped nose and mouth, a great big chunk out of the inside of his mouth, and a lovely big fat lip. The poor thing! He was very brave at the time, the teachers said it took him all of about 2 minutes to get over it, have a cuddle, and get right back to playing! He has been enjoying taking advantage of ice-block treatment too... I dont think he's ever had so many ice lollies in one day!!!!! He is a very brave little boy and looks like a proper little thug now...

Two hours after it happened.

A day and a half later!

Girl genius

Rio blew me away last night, not only has she rolled over three times in a row at 6 weeks old, but yesterday evening she was COPYING me! I would stick my tongue out, and she would copy, I would say "oooh" and she would copy... this girl is going to be our next Prime Minister at the age of 7!!!! She is soooo advanced, so clever, I think I must have been about 5 months overdue when I gave birth to her... lord help us, the next one will be a toddler when its born!! :S

Rune thinks its sooooo funny when Rio coos or sneezes or makes any sort of noise, he giggles so hard it makes Rio laugh too! This morning Ru was trying to drink his milk but Rio had a fit of the sneezes, and poor Ru almost choked himself half to death on his milk because he couldnt stop laughing - it was a right old sight, which in turn made me laugh so hard I was of no help to either of them, with Rio sneezing and Rune coughing and spluttering between giggles!

Here are a couple of pictures from this morning (after the afore mentioned dramas, that is!) - Rune is always asking to cuddle, hold, or kiss Rio - he is a VERY proud big brother :)

Our Picnic

We had a lovely picnic on Sunday, with our friends from the Canterbury Kids forum. The weather was perfect, quite humid but overcast so no risk of sunburn! All the kids had an awesome time running round and playing together. It was such a great afternoon! Rune was being a bit naughty and throwing his weight around - he even beat up some poor Maori boy who was twice his size, and he wasnt even with our party, he was a total stranger minding his own business!! Rune is a little bruiser and loves to play rough, he's having a bit of trouble realising that its okay to play rough with Daddy and Koro, but not with other children... it doesnt help that Rune is built like a brick shithouse and has no feeling in his big Beeney-bonce head!!! Rune will be moving over to the big boys side of pre-school next week, he is very ready for it - the big boys over there will soon put him in his place!! Its funny though because is is sooooo gentle with babies, and REALLY protective of Rio. He loves cuddling wee bubbas, and giving them kisses. He's a lovely little boy.... just an All-Black in training! ;)

Anyway, here are a few pics from the picnic:

Special moments

Rune and Rio enjoyed some lovely cuddle time today, being silly and pulling faces, and generally being lovely - a real Kodak moment! Here are a few shots I managed to get of them together, enjoying each others company :)

The baby is MINE! ALL MINE!

Silly face competition!

Pucker up, its kissy time!

All smiles, awww!

We are so proud of our beautiful babies, they are so wonderful! xxxxx

6 week milestone

Today is Rios 6 week birthday... and to celebrate, she had her immunisations :( She was all smiles in the waiting room, cooing and grinning at everybody. I felt SO bad taking her in to the nurses room and letting them plunge needles in her chubby little thighs! My poor baby! I know the jabs are for her own good, and are far more enjoyable than getting sick... but I still let somebody hurt my little girl! She was very brave though, she made more fuss over getting undressed than she did about the injections - typical! As soon as the injections were done, she was good as gold, had a feed, and fell asleep. Aww!

She was weighed today too, and is now at 5.020kgs, that's 11lbs! WOW! The Dr even said she looks more like a 3 month old than a 6 week old! Bless her, she's such a lovely wee girl :) The past 5 days she has been refusing the bottle too, which means we are back to exclusively breastfeeding - YAY! I am soooo pleased, I really thought I was going to fail breastfeeding again, but it looks like we've overcome the 6 week hurdle and its all going to get better from here on out. Fabulous news!

And... *drumroll please* ...another pregnancy is NOT completely out of the picture! If I can get myself to a high level of fitness through my core, another SPD pregnancy will be alot more managable, and I should be able to do it alot easier (and hopefully not end up disabled!!). Apparently, anyway! LOL! So, who knows what the future holds? Our dreams of a big family may not be crushed after all... :D

In other news, Rune helped me make a casserole this morning, and was most disgusted when I suggested he eat a piece of raw carrot! So, he chewed on a kumura instead, haha - go figure?! Last night there were fireworks going off left right and centre around our house, so I wrapped Rune up in a blanket and we went outside and watched all the fireworks go off, he thought it was brilliant, he absolutely loved it, his eyes were so wide with amazement and excitement. He's such a lovely wee boy! When he woke up this morning he got the blanket and said "wrap up warm, watch the fireworks Mummy!" and kept asking to go out and see the fireworks! Bless! When I dropped him off at pre-school this morning, he ran up to Pip, one of the teachers, and started jumping up and down saying "PIP! The fireworks! BANG! WHIZZ! The green one and the yellow one..." Hehehe it was super cute, he was so excited to tell her all about them, his speech has come on in leaps and bounds and he'll hold a full conversation with people. He even knows the entire Bob The Builder song off by heart, and can recite the alphabet. Clever little monkey!

So all is chugging along just nicely here, the sun is still out and we are having some glorious weather to start the summer (despite the snow down in Dunedin and Otago!!)... we plan on attacking the garden again this weekend, and hopefully having a picnic with some friends if the weather behaves itself. Wish us luck!! xxxx

Poser!

Rio, our little supermodel in the making - a proper little poser at just 5 and a half weeks old!!

Get my good side, Mummy!

Striking her 'damsel in distress' pose!

Peace, love, and understanding!

Hello? Is that my agent?

Get the paparazzi outta my face!

A sign of things to come?!!...

Gardening in the sunshine

It was absolutely beautiful weather today, so we made a start on our much overdue gardening, trying to battle our way through the collection of weeds that have sprouted up through winter. Both the kids were asleep for an hour so we managed to make a good dent in it (though still much more to go!)... and when Rune woke up, he went outside to "help" Daddy with the roses!! Here are a few pictures of the men of the house out in the garden. Please excuse Rune's gumboots, he has about as much fashion sense as his Daddy does!!!! LOL!

This spade looks like fun!

Wonder if I can make stripes in the lawn with it?!

Daddy! Wait for me! It's not easy dragging this spade around everywhere, y'know?!

Do you need me to dig a hole for your truck, Daddy?!

Juice break! Man, that was hard work! (Skinheads Unite)

As for me? I slept through the whole darn thing!

It was great being able to get out in the garden and spend some time in the sun - lets hope our Summer weather is here to stay for a while! :D xxxx

A few pictures of Rune and Rio

Just a few pictures of our babies, RuRu and RiRi, from the past couple of weeks. Rune is a very proud and protective big brother, whilst Rio is in absolute awe of Rune and is always watching him in amazement! They enjoy lots of cuddles and Rune is always asking to "Hold Rio! Cuddle and kiss!" ...awwww!! Enjoy these pictures as much as we do :) xxx

Hugs and kisses xxxxx