Disaster Zone City

WOW, still kinda shocked, we found out halfway through our flight ( LA stopover) that Chch had suffered another very large aftershock and half the central city had come down, arrived to find a national state of emergancy and our flight from auckland canceled and had to rebook as standby to Chch we managaed to get out of Auckland only 3 hours later than planned and get to Chch where we were told to use the toilets at the airport as there was no water or toilets working in the city and that over half the city was still without power, we decided to stay that night with Mikes brother in Kaiapoi which was good as they had shower and toilet facilitys and fuel still avalible, we have since then been staying in the City with my friend and her husband just literally a hundred meters or so from the police line that is blocking off the central city. anyway we are off to do something today to take our minds off all of it i'll take lots of pictures and report back

Holidays are here

Well its time and im all packed as much as I thought i wouldnt be, got the house sitter organized and everything is going smoothly just hope the post office is open to do the currency exchange and so DH can post his letters while hes down there getting nappies for the trip.
I must dash have to find something in the house for the boys to have for breakfast and not forget to eat myself as else i will defo feel sick on the flight and that is defo not what we need or want happening, I dont think i slept a wink last night im so excited

Friends aye, what would life be without them

Man i really love my friends, they are awesome and when i do let go enough to tell them whats going on then they are always without fail there to support me, I guess i should open up more sometimes and let them see all the good and not so much of the bad in my life. I really am so Thankful for all my friends around the world ( yes i have friends on every continent except Antarctica currently but who knows one of my friends husbands might get a job there and they might move there one day) I sometimes wouldnt get through the week without my M8's caus with Family so far away and the 13 hr time difference plus of course they have their lives to run and sort out then I do really need my friends some days.
With this holiday back to NZ then ive been thinking of how things there will have changed and trying to prepare myself. My Nana ,God rest her soul, Passed away when I was pregnant with Nathaniel in fact i found out she was gone when I called my Mum to tell her that she was going to become a Grandma herself, I miss Nana and really really dont know how I will react seeing my Grandad and not seeing her. Before I left NZ I tried to go visit her at the home as much as i could around work and we got close so i really dont know how i will react, ( somehow im crying while typing this , just thinking about her makes me cry ) caus i guess with being pregnant i held myself together so much i never really mourned her passing at all then life got in the way after Nate was born and its been a rollercoaster ride since.
Also Chch has had a MAJOR earthquake just in case you slept through September and missed the news and they have had sizable aftershocks as recently as Feb 10th they had a 4.0 and the most recent was Wed 16th a 2.5 measurement. so that understandably has affected the city and the way things look and how i remember them being wont nessacarily be how they are now.
Also my family has changed, the adults not so much but my younger siblings ( including the sister getting married ) have all grown up by 6 years and are so different now to the sisters and brother I remember leaving behind me. Thankfully through Skype and the internet I have had video calls and of course long telephone conversations with family over the years and seen photos of them pretty frequently but that isnt going to change how it will feel to have my little brother ( i last saw him when he was 8 yrs old ) almost as tall if not taller than me and a teenager no less !!
Im really looking forward to the trip and meeting my Nephew for the first time and seeing my bestie friend and meeting her little boys and husband ( she didnt even know of him when i left now they are married with a darling son ) and catching up with all my other friends, thankfully my sisters wedding is a good way to do this as everyone basicly is coming to that and will be there and it will be easier than going to all their houses in the time we have. im gonna finish off here caus i really should be packing, i just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone of my friends whos been there for me

Online life

Sometimes i think my life online is a bit too much work, trying to be nice , always watching what i say and how i say it, thats why i Love my blog caus its just me its my opinion expressed in my way and if people dont like it then they dont have to read it lol, My Blog is just that is MINE. I use so many parenting forums as well as facebook (which is where i can only imagine the now removed annonymous comment on my last entry came from although who on mine or my Husbands friends lists would say something like that I have no idea) and there is always so much drama over things that people who dont even know each other have said normally in relation to someones veiw on a particular sensitive topic. Theres always gonna be people who do things differently and say things differently and cultural and social protocols that will define us as humans but thats part of the charm and interest that there is in this world. So what if I'm a Married woman at only 25 yrs old? who cares really, Does it really bother people that much that although I breastfeed that my son also gets expressed milk from a bottle, or that even though I try to do the best for the enviroment by reducing waste produced by my household and therefore I cloth nappy one child while using disposibles for the other, is it really so important that people feel the need to slag off my choices and the decisions that my husband and myself make for our family?

I feel like i need a reality check sometimes or to give one to somebody whos being overly concerned about stuff that really will have no impact on their own lives but they just like to stick their nose in. Long and short . Part of who I am is that I say what I think and like everyone Im not perfect about thinking of the impact my words will have but I do try. Yes I use my blog to vent , big whoop wanna fight about it, If it bothers people then they dont have to read my blog its easy.

Next time whoever you were who complained about me complaining, say it loud and proud and show your  face, admit who you are if your going to cast judgment , dont hide in the shadows and be nasty theres just no reason to.

Drama

Well after getting the flights booked and confirmed yesterday we had a load of drama about the passports caus we had misplaced them, thankfully we now have them but i spent the whole day pulling the house apart to find where the kids might have hidden them just for them to be in the car the whole time

Needless to say im happy that we have them and have sorted the ESTA clearance visa for the USA even though we arent even going to offically set foot into the USA  we have to have it since we are being offloaded while the plane refuels. I think its just a way for them to get money off people who are transiting through on Long Haul flights going elsewhere and not staying in the USA.

Loads to do still around the house with everything got to sort so much but im sooooooooooooooo tired too

HOLIDAYS

Im going on holiday, im so excited im going back to the place i grew up, well the town i grew up in lol

through the work of God and the amazing generosity of my Parents then our holiday is going to happen.

Mum if your reading this we love you and we are so very very very very grateful for your help with all this and we will repay you plus interest as soon as we can. 

So now I have loads to do, loads and loads to do, heaps in fact lol got to get the suitcases ready and packed and the clothes washed and clean to go in them, get the boys stuff for the flight organized and plan everything that i need to including a lift to the airport and a pick up from the airport as well.

so must dash got far to much to do lol

Travel Plans

Well our Holiday is coming up fast we are supposed to fly out in  9 days time but as yet without return flights might have to postpone our trip and miss my sisters wedding which she and i would not be happy about. So I have to have all the family's clothes and stuff clean to go on holiday and hope we actually make it else there is no doubt going to be tears and heartache on both sides of the world. so im planning to go and we will find out Wed if we dont go as Wed is the latest we can call them to postpone the trip without losing the tickets all together.

i dont know if this makes sense but its doing my head in thinking about it im so fed up with not knowing and not having any options in front of me not having anything proactive i can do about it. We have nothing worth that much that we could sell to make up the shortfall even if we could sell it before we left. at least we have EJ's passport through now so if we do end up going that we can actually go arrrggh

Mummy Time = Training

Yesterday I decided to run the Race For Life which is organized by Cancer Research UK and is typically a female road race although men to participate. I am passionate about Research into Cancer as my Fathers Dad died following a long struggle with Cancer and I have lost friends to the disease as well and I do believe there is a cure out there for it or at least better treatments with less side effects than what is currently on the table.

I will be posting my sponsorship link here in case anyone who reads this blog wants to follow my training and sponsor me for the event, I already have 2 friends willing to do the event with me and a 3rd that is a possibility

Im going to train to run the event but depending on how my knees cope with the training ( first run is planned for tonight ) then i might end up walking the 5km with EJ in the wrap sling. 

There is more than one reason behind my desire to do the Race For Life, 1) I need and want to improve my overall health and fitness, 2) In memory of my Grandad and to raise funds for Cancer research worldwide. 3) caus its a challenge and im always up for a challenge

I do hope you will follow my progress and help with fundraising if you can afford to and I look forward to updating you all about how its going.

Lynni

Babywearing fun

Well today my new wrap sling arrived its a panel woven from  Victoria the sling lady who also trades on Facebook, I decided since EJ outgrew the soft structured carrier we had for him that we did need another option as i wasnt going to take a double pushchair on our holiday. The panel on the sling has Thomas the Tank Engine theme and Nate loves it too and I can carry him it  ( already tested a front carry with him ) its a bit harder to get the panel to display on a back carry but it is possible just a will take a bit of practic unless i use the standard rucksack carry which im not sure how long i could carry EJ for as hes quite heavy and i like having a waist support to help carry his weight.

Feeding time at the Zoo.....

Meal times in our house are always an adventure depending what we are eating the boys tend to eat almost the same as Mike and myself sometimes with minor modifications if we know they will just throw bits on the floor anyway. They are pretty hungry boys all around and eat well mostly with few exceptions as to what they will or wont eat. Nate by far is the more fussy of the 2 boys currently there was a time where he would eat anything but more recently he has been alot more picky and if i ever find the person who taught him the word " yucky" i will have a few choice words of my own to share!! 

We chose to do Baby Led Weaning with EJ mainly because i couldnt be bothered with making endless piles of puree for him and the more we looked into BLW the more it made sense, Basicly as I understand the concept then if a child's digestive tract is ready for food then its brain has learned how instruct the child to pick up chew and swallow food and to gag and spit out things to hard or big to swallow. so following that idea we allowed EJ to explore foods by giving them to him to hold from 5 1/2 months and he soon figured out how to get it into his mouth the chewing and swallowing bit came in time. we started with finger foods of cooked and raw vegetables and by 6 months we were giving him pasta spirals with sauce ( messy business at first ) and other pieces of our meals to try in large enough peices he couldnt fit into his mouth in one go but had to nibble the end or side of. He had his first Roast dinner shortly afterwards and gobbled it up, the chicken had a few trips in and out of the mouth till he had it chewed down to a point he could swallow it. From then we just stopped making food for him and gave him whatever we were eating , when we have curry then he gets peices of the meat and vege from the curry some rice  and some Naan bread on his tray and he picks it up and eats what he likes with his hands or we load spoons for him and either he takes the spoon from our hands or from the tray. When we eat pasta I do try to make sure we use penne or pasta peices rather than spagetti as it is easier for both boys to manage ( not had much luck teaching Nate how to twirl spagetti on his fork yet ) but they can cope with spagetti it just takes a bit longer for them to eat the meal. EJ has recently figured out how to take the food out of the bowl without upturning it onto the floor and waving it around his head so often gets a bowl of his own before this his dinner got put onto the tray.

so that brings me to tonight..

Well tonight i decided to get the camera out and film the boys dinner time or part of it anyway , mostly to show off how well EJ is doing with BLW, of course Nate wanted to be part of the action so he has his own staring moments

FYI. The meal is Potato&Pumpkin Mash with Carrots caus i managed to trick them into eating Brocolli with their chicken nuggets at lunchtime and they have had fruit as well today to make up their 5 a day.

Please excuse the mess my house appears to be in its not that bad normally lol