snuffles and a bit blue

I try to keep this upbeat and sparkly but wuite frankly I've had it up to here with snot and coughs and tantrums and I'm just not in the mood to be happy!

Poor Bax is like a tap - tears, mucus and nose-juice and he's very grouchy with it too. If I was him I'd like to curl up in bed and sleep but he is protesting as we speak and refuses to lie down let alone close his eyes.

Izzie is a bit easier but has decided to be a normal baby and wake up in the night which is a right pain. She is snotty too.

I also have a cold but I'm ignoring it and hoping it'll go away when it realises that I won't pay it any attention.

Also, the weather is so miserable that the washing is piling up in every corner.

Anyone want to swap lives for a week? (This offer only applies to those living on desert islands with no children)

Nummie, Bubba, Help

Bax has a new trick. I was lying in bed the other morning anticipating the very long days behind me and infront of me and I could hear Izzie crying but I simply could not move with tiredness. Then she stopped and I went back to sleep. When I got up half an hour later she had a dummie in her mouth and was fast asleep. I asked G later, did he get up to her? But no, Bax had got out of our bed and found her dummie and stuck it in her mouth. Wasn't a once off either he did it again this morning.

So, Izzie is sleeping very well and Bax still ends up in our bed one night out of three or four.

Work is heating up for me and I have found myself carting Izzie around too much so she is going to be at daycare with Bax from next week - Tuesday and Thursday 9-3 - hope no one minds too much but I think she'll get more kicking and stretching time which seems important.

We are having a big rearrange this weekend which involves reclaiming our study and moving Izzie in with Bax, I'm sure that will lead to even more bed swapping but we need somewhere to work and I'm sure these two will sort themselves out quite quickly.

New favorite Bax words: Balloon and Noodle.

Every home should have one

Baxter is very useful. I've told you before about G using his ears for the phone and the baby. Now I've got him scooting under the table to pick things up, going to get things for me, helping with Izzie. With very little help he can give Izzie a bottle and he's the first to find her dummie if she's upset. We'll have him climbing in windows Oliver-Twist like soon.

He can say up and down now. G picks him up and he says Up and then Down and G lowers him to the ground. It gets a bit tricky when he says Up Up Up and G runs out of height and Bax starts giggling. Lovely.

I don't want to jinx it but we think we've found a way of getting him to sleep in HIS bed through the night. We have put a real duvet and pillow in his bed and he loves cuddling down with them so much that he seems to be keener to stay there til morning.

Late Night Talkback

My little girl's a chatterbox. We put her down at night at 10.30 after a hot shower and a massage and she lies in her crib chattering away. We leave the radio on in the study where she sleeps and the two of them go back and forth, the host talking about what's in the news or what music he's about to play or back announcing an interview and Izzie gurgling and giggling and chirupping back.

I've spent this weekend at a Cook Island quilting workshop and Izzie came and lay under a huge Tapa and a full wall purple and yellow Tivaevae and she was happy as larry chatting away to everyone, sleeping well and beaming her big full-face smile.

She's a truly lovely little lady - but she's a real talker (I have no idea where she gets it from!?)

Vroooom!

Our boy is car crazy! He collects them every where he goes. Got a new one today from Grandpa Tom and had to sleep with it at nap time.

On Monday a parcel arrived with a bus charm for Izzie's bracelet and for Bax a card with an elephant driving a car - HE LOVED IT! First he thought it was a little book, "Book! Book!" he kept saying and then he saw the front "Car! Car! CARRR!!!" He has it on his bedside table now and points at it often during the day.

A note on books: Bax has discovered how to eek another few moments out of the day, he will now sit through an entire story book, sometimes two, it's wonderful to have him all rugged up in his winter PJs after a bath and to read to him without him getting up and leaving or worse still slamming the book mid way through. Tonight I read a story about a little red train and then he went and got another book, that one really put me to the test; The Old Woman and the Spider - IN MAORI!

Exploding Babies

A most terrible thing has happened! Bax has decided that he does like feijoas after all! Such a pity, never mind, I spose sharing is important to learn when you're 31!

Last week I was having lunch at the mall and I heard this god-almighty rumble and Izzie exploded in front of me. All her insides shot out her backside. The look of pleasure on her face was priceless.

It was so bad I had to go to a shop and buy a completely fresh outfit for her.

In the mothers' room another woman came in with a baby in a similar state and I said how relieved I was that it happened to other people. From out of the ether; over cubicle walls, from inside the feeding room, from the play area a whole chorus echoed "It happend to EVERYONE". The sisterhood is alive and well but up to its elbows in sh**!

Mouths of babes

It's fasanating watching Bax learn English; hysterical listening to him barble 'pocket, puppet, poppa, bubba, baby, bye bye, hello, yellow, shoessss, snack, night-night, num-num,no!'; mystifying when he says 'da da da' and points at the light, the wall, the floor, Izzie.

He has become more and more useful especially to G who is totally deaf in one ear. When the phone goes Bax finds Dad and says "Hello" and holds his hand to his ear. When Isabella cries and G is outside or in the shed Bax finds him and tells him "bubba bubba" so G knows what's happening. Bax is already earning his keep.

Am I looking forward to the next stage though when he says embarrassing things in public spaces. My dear friend L in ChCh shared a story with me the other week: She had taken her two to the park and her littlest has a large birth mark on her face. A little girl came up and asked "What's that thing on her face?" L started off on her long story of explaination. The little girl interupted her mid flow, "I like your necklace" she said. Perhaps the next stage will be just as engaging as this one.

Toot Toot Little Buddy

G took Bax out in the work delivery truck on Friday. He loved it!

Bax sat up in his leatherette car seat and could see a panoramic view of the traffic. All the blokes in the various warehouses around town called him the General Manager. G was very proud.

The 'wheels' theme continues at our place because it's inorganic rubbish collection time and I have been collecting wheels to make a go-cart. I have 7 and a broken trike with no handle bars. I watched Bax in the weekend climb onto the trike and put his feet on the pedals but he couldn't actually go anywhere poor deprived mite. After a while he started jigging to try and make the trike go somewhere and the bloody thing fell to bits with him on top. I was peeking out the kitchen window laughing. He started yelling but I didn't respond and after a few minutes he dragged one half of the trike inside and brought it to me, saying 'uhoh' and pointing into the garden. I followed him out and together we put the trike back together. Much later we went for a walk and he saw a little girl on a real, brand new trike, he stared at it longingly. Perhaps we should get him a proper trike before his birthday in August?