Dirt, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Football future?

2012-02-15T10:18:00.001-08:00

We had our ward young womens new beginning night this week. Our theme was 'kick start to new beginnings'. So everything was sports themed! We did flag decorations and sports gear and bishop who used to play football for rutgers spoke as well. Haze wanted to get in on the action too! He loves being sporty. Note uncle michaels beloved mighty ducks ice hockey shirt too! Lolz!

The funny side

2012-02-14T12:00:00.001-08:00

So haze is always. Always! Finding funny things to say or doin stuff to make us laugh. And his imagination is as huge as the sky! Today he told me tht he and his friend conner have little boogers like fluffy trampolines. And that Aunty renee has 2 kids called bonga and chonga! I am sure she would be very impressed!

Superman!!!!!!!!!!!

2012-02-11T22:49:00.001-08:00

Loving flying with grandad!

Story time!!

2012-02-06T21:31:00.001-08:00

Haze loves stories before bed. Usually it's a truck magazine or a digger book. But his current fave is his recorded story from Grandma Leeann. :-) such an awesome gift. And so much fun to be read to!

Fruits of our labour

2012-02-06T21:28:00.001-08:00

It's always nice to see hard work paying off. As a result of our awesome polkadots concert fundraiser last year we have been able to complete some projects! We now have an organic garden and wilderness area featuring lots of natives and edibles :-) th kids love coming and picking their own snacks!

Bob the builder

2012-02-06T13:22:00.001-08:00

Soooo into tools. First day back at play centre for the year and he just wants to build, play in the sandpit and get messy! :-)

Fishing!!!!!

2012-02-04T14:30:00.001-08:00

Hazen's first fishing trip! :-) patience: zero. But loved patting the fish and poking its eyes, givin it kisses and then kissing mummy with his fishy lips.

Shark fin dives!

2012-02-01T19:59:00.001-08:00

Ok so haze is a fish. Always has been. And sharks are the face. And sharks can do anything! Do the biggest dives, swim th longest lengths, harass the cousins the best... You get the picture. Fearless is our boy when he's a shark!
Not bad for 3 aye!

The finished product

2012-01-30T20:15:00.001-08:00

Carry on from blue dinosaurs- this is what the paintings turned out like :-) sweeeet!

Playin it safe.... Errrrrrr dangerous!

2012-01-30T20:14:00.001-08:00

Bikes and pool. Hmmmmmmmm. Waiting for the bikes to go IN the pool :-) Lolz!!!!!!!!

Lone star dinner!!!

2012-01-29T23:05:00.001-08:00

Yummmm!!! Haze loooves lone star. Especially th garlic bread and ice cream :-)

Job chart toy?

2012-01-27T12:29:00.001-08:00

Soooooo haze wants this truck. So I said cool lets take a pic of it ad print it out. We'll make u a job chart and u can earn some pocket money to buy it with. Snap the photo aaaannnnnd then saw the price. Eeeek! Over $100! He might be working for a loooooong time . Hehehehehe

Grandads toys

2012-01-27T12:25:00.001-08:00

HaZe loves everything to do with trucks and machinery. Yesterday uncle Aaron was moving th rock saw soooo haze went and helped. Future employee? I think so!!!
Ps love my iPhone! Sendin this while on th way to the temple!

Blue Dinorsaurs!!!!

2012-01-18T14:01:00.000-08:00

So for christmas this year i recycled and revamped an idea that my sister in law had used a few years back. So for Hazens grandparents in NZ and one for me coz i couldnt resist i got a bunch of different blue and white paints and some wood and had hazen paint them - brushes, then fingers, then feet till he himself was entirely blue! My big blue dinosaur he told me.

We then did handprints on card stock in different colours which we sprinkled glitter onto and turned them into fish and jelly fish etc to make scenes of the sea - we are all really beachy here.

soooo much fun! we then of course had to hose him down before he could get even near the shower! so much fun! will have to take pics of the finished product!

but haze LOVED it! sooooo funny!!

Big boy hair cuts!

2012-01-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

soooo.... after much discussion, procrastination, mind changing, self destruction and nagging Haze got a haircut!
....and now all his beautiful curls have disappeared!
but he soooo loves it and spent a good whack of time rubbing his head on stuff and playing with it - must feel soooo different!
his curls were down past his shoulders! so this is a big change! but we likee very muchee!

xx

So i had this idea......

2012-01-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

I need to use this blog thing more! So, I have revamped it and turned it into 'The Chronicles of Hazen'.

This is specifically so that those who love him, and arent living close, and for those you just want to check it out, can keep up with what he's up to.

So, where to start.

Hazen turned 3 on Nov 3rd and since then its like someone turned on this switch that turned him into this independant, stalwart, HILARIOUS little soul. I mean he was al those things before - but now, he is really coming into his own!

He LOVES diggers, dump trucks, any heavy machinery really. He is crazy about guns right now too.... thats a little bit my fault. He had his first lesson with the air rifle before christmas ... and i just so happened to get him and his mates a set of those nerf dart guns the same week ... lolz

He also loves Santa and the Easter Bunny. But more pics to come. I am sneaking this post in while i am at work. shhhhhh, dont tell the boss... doh! i am the boss! shhhhh, dont tell my staff or they will think i do nothing! lolz!!!

We were really lucky to have Rusty come visit for a week right before christmas. They had so much fun playing together. They went to the gardens and played diggers all day, went swimming, went to the park - a LOT!, watched movies, ate a ton of yummy kiwi food, went to the mall, got more diggers to play with, and just enjoyed spending as much time together as they could. It was really an awesome experience for Hazen. Everytime we see a little toyota corolla he yells out - hey there's my daddy!

;-)

More to come!!!!

Watch out!
xx

The happs

2010-10-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

So, i dont actually know what happened to the few months. they seemed to have disappeared all too quickly. And at the request of my youth sunday school class, i figured i had better update my blog.

So here it is!!!
i have a friend that has been workin on her photography folio and so she offered to take some pics of our monkey. This is my fave. He was sooo funny for the shoot - and she was fabulous. she came over to our place and just followed him around with the camera as he showed her his favorite things and played with his fave-o toys.

He is such a funny kid - he was climbing in and out of the big wooden toy box, and kept lying in it whilst instructing me loudly to turn on bob the builder so he could watch it from yonder toy box. that kid and bob. he has had a life long obsession with bob the builder. we are going to watch a bob performance at the mall tomorrow actually, i will have to remember to make a post about it! i know he will LOVE it.

He also has a fascination with the camera and is getting quite good at taking pics. this is him latest self portrait. i love that his tummy gets in the way!! its such a cute pic.

Haze still loves going to swimming and has a new teacher starting this term. Its a man, Jarred, and he has this uncanny way of getting haze to be bolder than he already is!!! the guy really has a talent with the younger kids and has taken quite the shining to our son, who, may not be the oldest in his class, but is sure as heck the biggest - he figured out that his feet can touch the ground without his head going under. so when he is being really cheeky, he will just bounce along on his tip toes instead of swimming! that kid is a fish! he has also taken a shining to an older woman who comes in for exercize in the big pool about the same time - he always goes over to chat to her after lessons and is getting just brave enough to tease her like he is going to get in with her!!!

our little dude is also still a shower fanatic. and as you can tell, also has a sense of humour. he was being a puppy and licking the shower door - giving it puppy kisses. which reminds me, my little bro just got a puppy! so i will have more cute stuff to blog about.

Rusty is still hanging in there. he is off to the States on Saturday to go visit his family. so if you live there and want to see him, just flick him an email!

I am back at uni this term. Strategy is the paper and i must say, its really opening my eyes. i am loving it! (despite being behind on the readings. . . oooops)

Well, night all! i will blog again soon!

Life in the slow -ish lane

2010-05-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

You know, we may not have been up to much exciting stuff lately, but stuff is sure happening all around us.
I started back at Uni (almost halfway towards an mba) doing one class on a Thursday evening a week. Its Economics. If you know me well, you will know that I am generally far too airy faerie for conventional academia. Luckily, and unlike most other subjects you would find in a post graduate level business degree, that seems to go pretty well with Econ! Its just a bunch of aerie faerie semi-educated predictions from some aerie faerie people. The first thing our lecturer told us about Econ is that "It doesnt matter if its fair, right or wrong. What does matter to economists is that someone makes a decision."
We have a paper due in at the end of the month. He reckons there is no right or wrong answer for the essay question, in fact he usually learns more from his post grad students than he does his Econ Masters students, and he is thoroughly looking forward to seeing what we all have to say on the matter. I dont know if i should be afraid or excited about turning it in!
Hazen and I go to playcentre on Monday mornings still. He loves it. He plays outside virutally the whole time. However he did discover the kiddy "phone booth and office" area set up inside. He LOVES anything with buttons, much to his uncles horror! ipods, laptops, cellphones, xbox controllers, nintendo dsl's - nothing is sacred to my son!
His new thing is dancing round and around in circles and getting all dizzy! I think he likes the feeling! Crazy kid.

Mum and dad got him a trike for christmas. He loves it! He screams up and down the pathway as fast as his little legs can go!

Rusty got out on his bije the other day too. they had a blast chasing each other around!

My little bro Mike, set the projector (our work one) up in his room the other day. i came down the hallway to find the 3 boys all chillin out watching a comedy series, Big Bang Theory.

Rusty is back in hospital for a few weeks after a rough weekend last weekend. I rang the doc on Monday and he was admitted Tueday, so that was pretty good I thought! They are doing more testing and have him on TPN - Intravenous nutrition plus a high calorie diet. They still dont know what the cause of all his troubles is, so for now they are treating the symptoms - malnutrition being the first on the list.

Here's to loving life while its simple!

These are a few of Hazen's Favorite Things

2010-04-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

something new for you to read.

2010-02-14T18:15:00.000-08:00

I decided I should stop ignoring my blog. . .I think some of the ignoring has been on purpose, the rest is just subconscious ignoring.

We are still out at my folks place - and they live in the country side, so the internet is less than high-speed shall we say. Some days it just straight up hates me. Plus facebook is just so convenient dont you think? its so easy to drop a quick line about whats up and so much faster to load photos. but it lacks the depth that you can have in a blog.

Over the past while Rusty has been unwell. I've known for a LONG time. He on the other hand took more convincing that there was actually something wrong. I am so grateful at how the Lord works mysteriously, but so, so needfully. Rusty's health really took a downturn after we moved in with mum and dad. So with all of the doctor, specialist and hospital visits we have been doing, its been a lifesaver living with them. Especially for me, knowing that there are some extra hands here to help with Hazen. And finally, Rusty is starting to improve. He has started coming to work with me when he has the energy and just does a little bit here and a little bit there.

Hazen on the other hand, is THRIVING. He runs, EVERYWHERE. He swims, like no toddler has every swum before! He will just jump straight into the pool, whether I am in the pool to catch him or not! He has no fear of putting his head under. I can stand a few steps away from the edge and he will jump off the steps and swim out to me! We are in the pool at least once a day at the moment. He climbs on, out, in, over, through anything to get to where he wants, and has started moving stuff to get where he wants too! Out the window, up the bookcase, up and over the sofa onto a beanbag in the other side. He is pretty chatty and is experimenting a lot with sounds and mimicking. He loves to sing - Especially Bob the Builder. Its been his fave since birth. I still have to sing it everywhere we go in the car.

And Me, well I am great. Tired, busy, covered in; paint, crumbs, goo, boogers, frosting, fingerprints, occasionally pms-y, but over all happy. We are so blessed. We live a good life. The recession seems to still have a tight grasp on the economy, but somehow, by Gods grace, the business has been spared and work is slowly but surely (touch wood for its continuance) starting to drip in, so we still have jobs, income and something to do during the day. I love to work. And I am so glad to have a job that fits in with being a mum. We really are so very blessed. And for that i am grateful.

The Happs. . .

2009-10-17T02:20:00.000-07:00

ok, so it has been like for ever since i have posted. So much has been going on and i have just been too lazy.
any way so, what HAS been happening.
We sold our house. prices have started to rise a bit and its a real buyers market here. we had so much interest, so fast and it sold really quickly. i miss our house, but it had some issues that under up-and-coming regulation changes would have been unrenovatable on a budget. and even harder to sell. it was a good house for us. but it was time to move on.
so we moved in with my mum and dad. and my two bro's. now, for most of you, this might sound really weird, like the worst idea in the world. i know what you are thinking - no personal space, living out of each others pockets, different opinions etcetcetc. . . but it actually works really well. i think its a kiwi thing, its really common here. of course, its not permanent, but for now it is fun! so until we figure out our next step, we are enjoying extra hands, live in babysitters, more home cooking and country living. my grandparents live next door too! family farm. my uncle and his family are down the road too.
spanky, the dog, fits in well out here - he loves having a ton of room to run, other to boss around, and extra people to give him cuddles. minxie the cat has taken a lot longer to settle in. she beats up the other cats and pees in the bathtub drain, which is actually pretty clever, but still naughty, as she spends all day outside and comes in to pee!!!
i watched my first clint eastwood movie too. grand turino. i have to say, it was fantastic. i loved it thoroughly. i dont know why. but it was great! it a bad ass kind of way.
haze is almost walking! the week we moved out to mums (2 weeks after he started crawling) he started pulling himself up on the furniture and walking around it. he can now walk his way around the house to wherever he wants to go by using the walls for extra balance. he is really speedy too. he is a speedy crawler also. we have to really keep an eye on him or he's off into the bathrooms to flush the loo a million times and stick his hands into the flushing water. mmmmmmm. . . nice.
he had his first tummy bug last week. he totally chundered all over rusty, while he was rocking haze to sleep - if you know rusty at all, picture in your mind the sheer terror on his face as puke splatters all over him, the blanky, the couch, the wall, the door and of course the baby. rusty doesnt like dirty things touching him. normal spit up used to just freak him out. so the powerchundering has become a priceless image burned into my longterm memory. hilariously, i heard rusty scream for me from the other end of the house, and racing up the hall i could see the puke hitting the door, got there in time to see it all unfold and calm rusty enough so he snapped out of his panic attack and help me sort our poor son out and to add insult to injury the only other person home at the time, my dad, lay on his bed in the room accross the hall, in full view of the events, READING A BOOK! if only i had the video camera rolling!!!
it has taken the better part of a week for Haze to recover and now Rusty has it too. some of the big perks of having a sick kid is that he is so much more cuddly!!! i loved it! he is a pretty cuddly kid, but they are like quick, on the run hugs as he flies past me on his way to play with his toys. so i got in all the snuggle time i could. it was awesome. he has also slept a whole lot more than normal. and, because i have been stuck at home too, i decided to get inspired by the seasons festivities and all the crafty ideas many of you have posted about. so i did some halloween decorating. i was quite proud of myself. i dont often make time for crafts anymore, but i so enjoy the creative outlet. so thank you!
i will post some more soon. plus blogger isnt letting me upload photos. grrrr
xx

mum's the word!!!

2009-08-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

hahahahahaha!!! my son can say mum!!! its awesome he sounds so cute!

Loud Noises and Creepy Crawlers. . .

2009-07-15T02:49:00.000-07:00

our son has been trying desperately to get moving for a while now - and last night - i am proud to say - he CRAWLED!!!! It was sooooo cute - rusty and i were almost crying with parental proudness! sad but true.

he seems to have lost some of the coordination today - but then, he can just roll everywhere - its faster, for now at least.

hopefully this will tire him out enough so that he will start sleeping again - he has decided that naps shall be no longer than 20 minutes, thank you.

concurrently, he has been discovering that his mouth is amazing. he can roll his tongue over his teeth to feel them, and poke his tongue out when you ask him too - he is like a doggy. And i have confirmed my suspicions from the previous post that yes, indeed, he woofs when prompted. he also has a slightly different sound for a meow. he has a growl and roar like a lion and a scream too.

i should point out here that the animal noises are varying degrees of shriek/shout/growl/roars and are probably decipherable only to the trained ear (ie mum and dad coz they hang out with him 24/7)

our son is VERY vocal. He is also a pretty pondersome kid - he likes to observe everything thats going on around him - and then begin his full frontal assault on the area. . . typical boy.

Rusty and I are doing good too. but our lives are not as exciting to hear about as Hazens - we just facilitate his fun.

Oh, we played with peanut butter playdough today - it was rainy and i wanted a different activity to do with our boy. It was AWESOME. It didnt matter that haze squished it all thru his hair and fingers an shoved it into his mouth faster than the speed of light. We had a yummy good time. So thank you Aunty Denise for making it for me and jared all those years ago - i have never forgotten it and was so excited to try it out in our family too!

this week he also discovered constanants - rrrrraaaaaaaa, bbbbbbbaaaaaa, and ddddddddddddaaaaaaaa.

he has been doing mmmmmmmmmmmm for a while - it usually means FEED ME MORE!!!

and he likes to chomp his gums together - he is so funny.

Oh my goodness, AND we got haze a baby toothbrush! he loves to brush his teeth - after breakfast we go down to the bathroom and brush our teeth together - he is so cute.

wow - things have been pretty busy since the last blog. huh, and i didnt think there was much to write about. should have known better.

BIG BOY BEDS AND TOOFS!!!!

2009-06-28T19:09:00.001-07:00

We finally got around to putting Haze in his big boy bed. He sleeps there during the day, but not at night yet - usually coz his room is also the office, and we are usually in there. He loves it though. . . so does the cat . . . mmmmmmmmmm. . . fun!

Yay!!! Our baby has teeth!!! I was sitting in Relief society last Sunday, feeding Haze some cheese like usual. And then I felt it - so I opened his mouth back up and had a look good old look at it - trying really hard not to disturb the lesson! I was so proud!

Then Monday morning I thought I would get a better look at it in the morning sun and to my surprise there were TWO teeth!!!

He has been really funny too, sticking his fingers in his mouth and chomping his gums up and down, pushing his tongue over his teeth, making new funny noises.

He has started growling too - like a lion! Its so cute! We have growl conversations while we are driving in the car. Actually I was reading to him this morning - his favorite book. "This is my puppy! And he says (push the button) "WOOF WOOF"" every time we did "woof woof" he would growl - so maybe he thinks he's a doggie - he does love this book - so much that i know it off by heart and recite it in the car to keep him happy - its in the same category as the Bob the Builder theme song.

He is such a funny guy!!!

what's new. . .

2009-06-09T04:34:00.001-07:00

ok, i was getting tired of the blue an brown. i needed a change in the look of the page.

so, what has been happening. . . Haze is 7 months old. He weighs 13 kilos - thats about 30 lbs. So he is now in a front facing carseat and he LOVES it. he can see me in the rear view mirror, he can see the cars and what ever else is happening, its way more roomy to accomodate his large stature and its Plushy.

He is pushing up really high with his hands and feet and clearing some good air, then tries to leap forward, but usually ends up going backwards. he is so funny. he is the most easy pleasey kid. we have been having lots of fun in the bath too. he had a bubble bath the other night - he thought the bubbles were awesome, so the next day i got out the old bubble mixture and blew bubbles for he and Spanky. Spanks loves to EAT the bubbles, so there was an extra element of entertainment.

Rusty has been at a course most of the week and i was at a 2 day course tuesday and wednesday, so mum babysat, much to her delight. then we just stayed the night out there too. so given that he was with his nanna, he got spoilt and fed up on naughty treats like ice cream!!! He LOVED it! and cried when it was all gone! He is doing so well with his eating too - i have been giving him marmite sandwiches, porridge, weetbix, peanut butter toast, lumpy meat, yoghurt, pretty much anything we are eating - he will eat too. and woah betide you if you are eating something and dont share!

it was mums birthday yesterday, so i took haze in to the office for a photo with his nanna and then shot into the mall to get them printed - along with a few other pics.

we had a family dinner for mum at our house - mum wanted beef curry and butter chicken for dinner and then i made a sponge cake for dessert. mmmmmmm. . . .

then we played take two. its a family fave and we are all really competitive. for those who dont know how to play here's how it works - its seriously addictive and faster than scrabble.

you use the scrabble letters only. each player starts with 5 letters. when you say start, players have to try use all of there letters to make words. once someone has used all 5 letters they call "take 2", and players all take another 2 letters to try and make words from. words must connect, just like in scrabble, but each player ends up with their own freehand scrabble board. the first person to use all letters wins.

we soooooo love this game.

happy birthday mum!

my fave

2009-05-29T04:03:00.001-07:00

i am loving this pic. i took it today as part of my "Nakey pics for Katie" photo shoot.

He usually doesn't smile for the camera - he is too busy trying to grab it, but today, we had lots of smiles and giggling. It was awesome!

I so love how cute he is!!!

6 Months old already!!!

2009-05-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

so our boy is already 6 months old. he weighs 11.5 kilos, he eats like a horse, like anything you give him, is gone in like 5 seconds flat! we haven't found anything that he doesn't like. but he does love to suck on soft cheese!

we REALLY need to put him in his big boy crib, there is no leg room for the poor guy!

he is rolling all over the floor and spinning around like a break dancer too.

i love having him around. he is such a happy, goofy kid. he has figured out how to purse his lips and blow - sometimes he does it with his dummy in his mouth and it goes flying across the room. he also loves to give me kisses. not rusty though - his face is too scratchy. he grabs my face or hair and gives me nice big wet open mouth slobbers on my cheeks and then bites down on my chin. its rather disturbing but so cute!!

I was thinking about how our life has changed since we have had him. we used to work all day and long into the night on frequent occasions, but now, it happens every night. work actually never ends, not even on weekends. its really hard work! but you know, all it takes in the middle of the night or whenever he is screaming about not wanting to get dressed, is ONE look at his cute face and i melt all over again. he is so funny. he ends up in our bed every night without fail at the moment, so when we wake up in the morning, we get to watch him wake, he is always happy in the morning. so we play in bed before we drag ourselves up. and, you know, i miss him when he's not around, even just when he is taking a nap!

we just love our ChopChop!

Demotivate me

2009-05-11T03:55:00.000-07:00

My new Favorite way to get Laughs. . .

Demotivational Posters!!!

Funny Forum Pictures

Demotivate

Funny Demotivators

Thank you Aaron for the introduction!

Our Easter Bunny. . .

2009-04-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter weekend. I made an Easter Bunny hat for Hazen (at his daddy's special request). I surprised myself at how quick and easy it was to make. I just free handed the pattern and luckily have a super stash of fabric just waiting for inspiration.

My mum's parents had their 50th wedding anniversary so we had a family dinner and old movie night out at mums. it was funny to see the old pics of when they were younger, their wedding and family holidays. All of us girls LOVED nanna's wedding dress. We used to play dressups with it when we were little. Sadly, I was about 8 or so last time I could fit into it. Nanna was a svelte wee gal.

Hazen turned 5 months old earlier in the month, so seeing as how it's still warm, we went and played in the garden and took some photos. Minx and Spanky played too. The pretty much just chased around and jumped off the retaining walls on top of each other. So we had a good laugh. I am so glad it's still warm. We've only had one fire so far, despite Rustys hard work cutting and stacking wood.

We got Haze an Amber "Man-clace" the other day. I read an article about the natural healing powers of wearing amber. Its apparently an analgiesic, and can help with teething, excema and other baby niggles. So we decided to give it a shot. We will let you know how its going. I am not too keen on it around his neck because it gets caught up in all his chin rolls. But oh well.

The End of a few Eras. . . and the beginning of a few new ones

2009-04-05T03:42:00.000-07:00

So we have been making the most of the warm beautiful evenings and going for walks around the hill where we live. This is a something new.

I got my beautiful long hair all chopped short. And I was released from the Primary Presidency. Actually we all were. So now I feel kind of lost. Its a bittersweet end. Our primary is not short of interesting characters, by any means. So Sundays can be rather exhausting. However, I have served in Primary for 6.75 of the 7.5 years I have held callings.

Work has been really busy too. I am the "SHEQT officer" - Safety, Health, Environmental, Quality and Training. In other words - the red tape person. I have been getting documents and manuals and training schedules sussed so that we are all up to scratch there. We had our first Parkinson & Holland Health and Safety Committee meeting on Friday. It feels good to finally be getting this stuff sorted. I have been meaning to get onto it since we moved back to NZ. So I feel like its a big achievement. There is still alot to do but its soooo good to see things being checked off my list!!

Our baby has had an ikky cold the past week. Consequently, he has not been the happiest chap. Especially after I figured out how to make the nasal aspirator work.

He is now 5 months old. He is getting really good at sitting up by himself for more than just a few seconds. He has just started grabbing our faces so we can give him kisses and he is trying to kiss us back. I am just trying to carefully time them so we dont get spat all in our mouths.

He is still quite Reflux-y. But the nurse reckons the doctors wont prescribe us anything because of how quickly he keeps putting on weight. At least we know he is keeping more down than we initially thought. In the early days I could have sworn that he had spat up everything I had fed him. It even worse now though with feeding him solids. Its pretty coloured spit up. He is really getting interested in moving to get his toys. And he still winds up in bed with us about 5 am. He is really cuddly though. And I would miss him otherwise.

Oh, another first! It was our 5 yr wedding anniversary on Friday and we went out for dinner to a poshie restaurant in Bombay called Bracu. I ate Quail!!! and Duck!!! and truffle pate ice cream. Bizarre concept.

But, Hazen stayed the night at mums house!!! All by himself!!! Mum reckons he was really good and only cried once - when she tried to feed him Carrrots and rice. But she said that she didnt like them either. So by morning, when we picked him up I was just a little uncomfortable. . . but we were soooooo proud of him!!!

Our Chunkie Munkie

2009-03-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

I took our boy to the Plunket Nurse yesterday for his 20 week check up. Apart from a cold he is healthy and happy. He weighs 8.7 kilos so x 2.2 = 19.14 lbs!!! He is 67 cms tall and has a 44.5 cm head circumference. His 3-6 month clothes are already getting too tight for his chubby little tummy and legs. He is hoovering down solid food as fast as we can get it in his mouth. Rusty gave him a suck of his Fruju Iceblock last night as he was taking a big interest in it. Boy did he think that was fun! Especially the coldness on his lips!

So whats new? . . .

2009-03-17T02:12:00.001-07:00

So about 2 weeks ago our baby decided that sleeping wasn't cool, but he couldn't hack the pace of staying awake and so, was pretty grumpy. He had also started shoving things in his mouth and really chomping on them. And grabbing onto his medicine dummy, bottle, me, anything that equals food in his mouth really. (Note the first picture) So we decided to try him on solids! He has taken to it really quickly, especially baby apples mixed with baby rice. He is eating like tons too. He must have really been ready for it.

He loves his food soooooo much that he chomps down on the spoon and wont let go and he wants to eat it so fast that you almost need to feed him through a straw to get it in his mouth fast enough!

Consequently, we are also going through bibs like crazy. What a little hungus!!! I am really proud of how fast he has cottoned on to eating big boy food actually. I can't believe how fast he is growing and changing! Especially his cheeks. They get bigger and bigger all the time!!!

As for us, well, Rusty went on young mens camp up to the Kaipara Harbour for the weekend. So I went and stayed at mums. It was Hazen's first sleep over, and Rusty's first night away since he has been born. I would have been fine by myself. But it was more fun this way.

He is getting to be a real pro in his jumperoo too. He loves it. His bouncy chair is too boring in comparison so he fusses until he gets in the jumperoo, then its all smiles and excitement. He is like a tigger.

4 months old already!

2009-03-03T00:40:00.000-08:00

Today our baby is 4 months old. It is hard to believe time has gone that fast! He has grown 12 cm taller and put on LOTS more weight. Luckily for us he is still sleeping through the night too.

It was a nice day outside today so we went for a walk in our yard and took some photos. He was being a little more serious than usual. Around bath time especially he gets all silly and giggly. He is soooooooo ticklish.

He likes sucking on his fingers and shoves anywhere between 1 - 5 into his mouth (sometimes both hands too). And anything in his hands goes into his mouth.

So, 4 months down track and what has changed?

We go to bed before midnight now. My house isn't quite so tidy. I have toys and baby gadgets all over my living room. We have winding the baby down to a science. It no longer takes me 3 hours to get ready to leave the house in the morning. We dont have tears getting out of the bathtub anymore. Cute little lamb baby crying has turned into shouts "hey come pick me up!!! I'm awake and I am hungry!" Rusty cooks more, which is great, he is a fab chef. And I am back at work part time. Rusty is back at Uni and on the Bishopbric and working fulltime. So we are pretty much busier than ever.

Our cute smoosh. . .

2009-02-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, this is our son's Belly Button. I always thought it looked kinda like a smiley face, plus it sticks out and stuff. So the other night, right before bath time, I just couldn't resist the urge any longer - I had to put the eyes on it and take a pic. It looks AWESOME! So I am sorry anyone who thinks this is cruel or freakish, but I think its cute.

So I think our baby definitely has the "Morgan Clever Toes". They are the cutest little sausages!!! And thanks to his bow leggies, his little feet look like they are always holding hands!!! I LOVE IT!!!

He is also still very much loving bath time. We put his hair up in a Pixie with the bubbles of his shampoo the other night.

What a smooshie! His hair is still pretty long on top and back, and starting to thicken up a lot also.

He is getting really clever with his hands too, he is starting to grab things (ponytails are fast become the hairstyle of choice for mummy), and he likes to swipe at his toys. Sometimes he straight up just uses them as punching bags. Plus everything that gets into the hands then automatically goes straight to the mouth. You would think I was starving him or something.

Sitting or standing are the play positions of choice, any way he can see what is going on really. He is pushing up and then trying to get his legs to take him forward, but hasn't quite got the coordination down yet. We hold his hands and he pulls himself up to sitting.

So in summary, I guess I am like every other mum. I love my Baby and think he is the cutest, cleverest, smooshiest baby ever to exist.

Ramblings of a new mother

2009-02-02T02:52:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking a lot lately - you know, my brain cells are actually beginning to work again. I really do love being a mum. It's so amazing that 12 months ago our smooshie little son was just a microscopic zygote in a test tube. I will always be grateful for modern medical practices and a fertility specialist that took us seriously.

Sometimes I thought I would never get to feel the pains of labour, or the joys (and pains and tiredness) of motherhood. I am so in mummylove with our son. He is such a delight. He is a ticklish, giggly, hungus ball of gas, spit-up and cuddles.

I so love him. One look and I am smitten.

updates. . .

2009-01-25T03:12:00.000-08:00

The Plunket Nurse came today. Plunket is a government sponsored maternity care provider for all mothers after midwife care is completed. She comes every few weeks to check up on us and make sure baby is going well and I am doing good also. Its awesome to have a trained professional come in and answer any questions etc and chat with me about things like play time ideas, play groups in the community, introducing solids, baby stages etc, stuff its not worth asking the doctor about. Plus its reassurance that we are doing things right. She's a nice gal.

So our baby weighed in at 13.13 lbs and 62 cms long.

That means he has grown 10 cms in 12 weeks and put on 5 lbs.

He is 12 weeks old and gets his next round of shots tomorrow. Mummy will have to be brave. I have a really good doctor. Actually we are really lucky here, all medical costs for children under 5 is free. even prescriptions. Just one of the benefits of social medicine.

So I am a Happy Mummy, grateful that our baby is healthy, chubby and growing fast.

8 Things. . .

2009-01-25T02:38:00.000-08:00

Favorite TV Shows:

1. Big Bang Theory

2. Grounded for Life

3. Rachel Ray (whilst eating cinnamon toast)

4. Pulp Sport (homegrown tv show - so cool)

5. Everybody Loves Raymond

6. Myth Busters

7. 2 and a half men

8. Scrubs

8 Things I did Yesterday:

1. snuck a snuggle in bed with Hazen

2. fed the starving hungry monster

3. took a road trip to the Temple

4. realized how weird the Hamiltron natives are

5. Read my Little Treasures magazine

6. played with the doggy

7. played with the baby

8. wished I could work the xbox so I could play Lips while Rusty had the worlds longest shower

8 Things I look forward to:

1. When men can lactate

2. Hazen and Spanky playing together

3. My backyard being beautiful and grassy

4. Vacations in flash places to use up our timeshare credits

5. Finishing my post grad work

6. my hairdressers appointment on wednesday

7. Travelling abroad summore

8. flattening my tummy a little

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Cafe Rio - what i would give for a pork barbacoa salad right now

2. Tucanos Brazillian churrasco in provo

3. Cafe Rio

4. Cafe Rio

5. Cafe Rio

6. Cafe Rio

7. Cafe Rio

8. Bazza's Steakhouse in Pukekohe

8 Things on my Wish List:

1. There would be clothes in my wardrobe that I actually like

2. I would stop craving chocolate and cookies

3. a maid and personal chef

4. travel the world eating great food and staying in delightful hotels

5. learn ballroom dancing with rusty

6. large diamonds

7. hand picked flowers from my husband once a week

8. build a house. not myself, i'd hire people to do it for me so i don't break my fingernails.

8 people I tag:

1. Ashley

2. Sara

3. Melanie

4. Melinda

5. Lori

6. Kiersta

7. Bethany

8. Tish

Yummier Summerier

2009-01-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Summer of course means beautiful weather, beach, strawberries and BBQ's. All of these things are very much loved by our little family and the animals are no exception. Minxie holds a current daily cull record of 1 snack bird (Silver Eye), 1 Blackbird, 1 Weta and 3 Skinks. Eeewwww. Spanky of course benefits from playing with all of these. Plus with Rusty's newly inspired passion for cooking, steak is frequently on the menu for our spoiled fur babies. mmmmmmm...... t-bones...... lucky dog.

First Christmas

2009-01-02T16:56:00.001-08:00

In honour of Hazen's first Christmas we decorated our tree with his toys. Well, the fairy is mine but its still cute. We put it up high so the doggie cannot eat the decorations and so the kittie has something to sleep under. Its her favorite place to sleep over the summer months.

We had Christmas morning at our house, Brunch at mum's then down to Ngatea for the family Christmas Dinner at Aunty Leanne's. What a big day for such a little dude!!! He pretty much slept and ate all day, just like the rest of us! Gosh I love Christmas afternoon naps!! He got some cool stuff too. Toys, books, clothes. Rusty and I got each other a BIG tv back in September for our combined birthday and Christmas prezzies. We are still enjoying that.

Because we were down the line till late Haze got to bathe at Aunty Leanne's. His "Great" (both ways) Uncle Steven gave him his bath. It was soooo exciting.

I am posting some of Hazen's Christmas pics in the next column. So check them out. He is such a cute smoosh ball.

december joys

2009-01-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

So much has happened in the last month - of course, with Christmas on the way, it was a crazy one. Our poor son must think that his carseat is his day bed! Between Christmas prep and running around after Rusty, I don't think we spent a whole day at home!

Hazen is a real blast. He loves his puppy Spanky and Spanky totally loves him back. Now that Haze is a little more animated and chatty, Spanks really wants to play. But alas, not yet. I can tell they are going to be into all sorts of mischief together.
He is really giggly and smiley now. He weighed in at just under 11 lbs 8 oz on the 23rd. He is a real gobble-guts too. And he loves his pacifier. In NZ we call them dummies or do-do's.

Hazen was blessed on the 14th at my parents house. We were fortunate to have Rusty's family listen in over the phone. It was really special. Rusty did an awesome job with the blessing. It was very eloquent. But true to form his 'love' of cameras ensured that we didn't get a family photo. I have been trying really hard to pin him down for some decent family photos but he is dodgy and elusive. I forced him into getting one with us and Santa at the mall. i will have to scan it and post it.

The pic above is my little bro Mike. He is 14 and the youngest. He was sitting next to me and gave me the funniest look. "I miss my do-do. Can I have one of Hazen's?" Sadly, its not the first time he's asked. But this time I gave in. He spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the house with it in his mouth. In the background is my mum and Hazen having snuggle.

This is his blessing outfit - I at least took a picture of that. Stupid thing is, I went out and got a really nice outfit for me and did my hair all pretty ready for a photo too! Oh well.

one month old!!!

2008-12-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

Yay, so last week Hazen turned one month old. He is such a strong young soldier. He and I have nasty colds and he is so good!!! He is currently 10 lbs 4 oz and is 56 cms tall. He looks more like his Daddy all the time, but still looks enough like his Uncle Michael to turn some heads. His hair is growing and he is getting really chatty. Its sooooooo Cute!!! And we are still just smitten by him!

our new addition. . .

2008-11-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

So on the 3rd of November we were graced by the presence of our beautiful baby boy Hazen Fuller Seth Morgan. He arrived at 12.50 in the afternoon, just in time for lunch, and believe me, he likes lunch!

He was 8lbs 6 oz, healthy, happy and oh so cute!!!

We are just smitten! He is smiling and coo-ing, pushing up, holding his head and trying to roll over already! He loves showers with his daddy and snuggling in bed while he is trying to wake up in the morning. He sleeps between 5 - 8 hours at night, always has, even in the womb, and gets the hiccups after every feed.

Mummy and Daddy are adjusting well, we are trying to stay as relaxed and calm as possible. its not too hard considering we are actually getting sleep! Spanky is cute, he comes and sits next to Mummy and Hazen during changes and feeds. And bath time is sooooo exciting! For once, someone ELSE gets a bath!!! Minx is just happy that he can't chase her (yet).

How big do I feel. . .

2008-09-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

ok. This is Lisa at the business coach's office. She is also pregnant. We are due 3 days apart. . .

hmmmmmmm. . . . don't I feel rather large sitting next to her! She is also reading books on birthing and attending antenatal classes. I am doing neither. Strangely I am not worried about that part. I just want my baby gear to arrive!!!

Our Little Guy

2008-09-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

OK, So I guess I am not good at this keeping stuff up to date thing.

But we are happy to report that we have 7 weeks to go until we get to meet our little fulla. We have been amazed at how fast time flies, and at how just when you think you couldn't get any more round, you do. We had another ultrasound last week. They used 4D rendering. So the picture quality is amazing!!! We are thinking HAZEN for a first name. but still pretty clueless on middle names. . . Help appreciated. We think he is a good mix of Rusty and my little Bro, Mike.

We (Rusty included) finally got over the morning sickness at about 25 weeks. And I decided that doing 2 papers was a stupid idea. but I got 2 B+'s!! Rusty had to go up to the U.S. on business again in July, so I was left running 5 businesses singlehandedly for 3 weeks. You would think that things would quiten down when they got home, but alas, no such luck. Needless to say, I am glad I to be taking a break from uni till next year.

My body is finally screaming loud enough that i am listening. I am in great health, I am just tired. Stupidly, my brain is not. So I am still working full time and slowly starting to ease into a few part days a week. Which I then use to help organize my sisters wedding. Which is on Thursday the 18th.

We put on a Garden Party afternoon tea on Saturday and got all decked out in our party dresses. It was fabulous. Everything was miniature, mini cup cakes, mini eclairs, mini club sandwiches etc etc etc. Rusty and a friend were our bar tenders for the day. We had a vast selection of MOCKtails available. It seems to have awakened a hidden passion of his to mix drinks! I think I will be reaping all the benefits. . . mmmmmmmm... Pina Colada's, Raspberry Daiquiri's...

How did we get to the end of May so Fast?

2008-05-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

Oh, my gosh, how time flies.

Lets see. Quick overview since January.

Long hot summer. Still don't have a great tan.

Lived through a cycle of IVF. Not for the faint hearted. I know some of you can sympathize.

It worked. Being Pregnant is a dag. Rusty got morning sickness too. Loving the new bust.

17 weeks along. All going well. Should find out the sex next week so will try and remember to do another post.

Puppy grown up. Likes to eat anything, including lizards - see photo. Kitty having a phantom pregnancy - so she is real fat and has massive kitty boobs.

Taking 2 papers and working full time is killing me.

Work is work. Love it most days.

Missing the sun. Wishing i could scam a trip to the states again soon. Went on a quick business trip in Feb. It was so nice to be back. We miss the mountains being so close. I dont miss the snow.

While i'm at the computer. . .

2008-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

I might as well add a few more photos. . .

This is us @ the Waimakariri River (It mean cold water - and its true) We stopped for lunch here on our way up to Hamner Springs. It was sooo pretty...

And this other pic is the view from the top of the Port Hills overlooking Lyttleton Harbour. See NZ is BEAUTIFUL! Come visit us. We are painting the bedrooms next weekend. so they will be ready for visitors. ;-)

I should tell people we have a blog.

2008-01-19T23:46:00.000-08:00

Then it might be worth my while typing stuff up.

This is how close we got to the lions at Orana park. We took a trip to Christchurch in November. Thats the city we met in. And on our first date we went to this wildlife park. Christchurch is a beautiful city. we would move there in a heartbeat if we didnt have a mortgage and good jobs.

We had a fun vacation over christmas. We went down to waihi beach to the holiday home. and then road tripped up north to the very top of NZ to where the Tasman sea meets the pacific ocean. We went on a particularly windy day, so it was easy to see where they crash together. it was quite amazing. We took the dog with us too! he travels really well. You put him in the car and he sleeps. You get out of the car and he is ready to rck and roll. Plus he is getting bigger now. And manages to pull a crowd where ever we take him.

Rusty got an Xbox 360 for Christmas. He is quite impressed. And I have to admit, Its really fun to play together. I totally kick butt at the karate game. And car racing. Hehehehehehehe. . .Much to his disgust. I still can't figure out Halo however. its a bit over my head.

The Kids

2007-11-07T16:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, So they aren't Human babies, But they are our babies none the less. . .

Our Big girl Pixie - Immoralized like a Greek Goddess by her memory.

Huge Minx. Our Border Patrol Watch-woman and resident pest eater.

Spanky - Doo. Our little Shih - Tzu. Master of mischief and Poop

The Inaugural Blog

2007-11-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, We have a blog page! We were feeling left out! Plus we miss all our mates in the USA. So this appears to be the way to go! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox