still alive

We have emerged from our forced confinement of sickness. It feels like it has forever to get over this illness. Max and I are still coughing but we are thankfully feeling much better. Lonnie, we hope, has manged somehow to miss this one. Maya had a light case early on and has been sweet enough (she really had no other choice) to hang out at home while Max and I recover.

Yesterday we went out socially for the first time in about a week. We were lucky enough to get better just before the Polkadot's Body Bop concert at Vauxhall School. Maya is amazed that her friend Brooklyn's parents are rock stars. Lat night the kids asked me to tell them a story about the Carebears and the Polkadots. Maya said she wanted a Polkadot Dez doll and Max said he wanted a Polkadot Sarah doll.

This morning we went on a field trip with Playcente to fly kites at the top of Mt Victoria. Our Placyentre is located at the base of Mt Victoria in Devonport (for some of our photos of Mt Victoria click here) so while everyone else enjoyed a nice walk up to the top we decided to not push ourselves so we drove to the top. It was the prefect place for kite flying. The weather thankfully cooperated with blue skies and no rain. Each kid was given a plastic shopping bag tied at the handles with string. The wind was perfect to fill them up with air and make a lovely rustling sound.

***Arughhhhh!!!! Just now as I was writing a small bird flew into our house and flew around the living room. This had happened at least three times since moving here, but this bird was not as trusting of me as the previous birds had been. He fought all my efforts to help him outside....which is hard in a small house with large picture windows. I felt like Mitchell on Modern family. ****

This kids are taking a nice long nap for while I am very glad, so that I can get ready for our trip Playcentre weekend trip to Camp Benzton. Ah....I've lost my train of though after trying to save that bird, which I was finally able to take outside. Lots of fun photos to come....

earthquake and ear infections

We didn't feel the 7.1 magnitute earthquake centered in Christchurch, NZ yesterday morning. Where we live in Auckland we are more than 660 miles (1000 km) away from the epicenter. It really is amazing that no one was seriously injured in such a large earthquake. If you want to read more about the earthquake you can click here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10671218

We hope those in the affected areas continue to be safe during aftershocks and are able to quickly return to their lives.

In other news we have spent a lot of time at home this week. On Wednesday morning Maya woke up with a bit of a cold so we decided to cancel our playdate and get some rest at home. Thursday Maya's eyes were crusty and Max had also joined in with a runny nose and some coughing. By Friday afternoon I decided I should take this kids to the dr because Max's fever was over 102f. The dr said he though he had double ear infections and prescribed antibiotics. Thankfully Maya was acting brighter and wasn't given any meds.

Our weeks go so slow when we can't go our and participate in fun activities. We spent a lot of time watching Planet Earth and reading books while we all slowly went crazy. Lonnie went to Napier over night for work making the days seem even longer.

Late Friday night I decided I would join in the madness. My throat has swelled up and my neck and ears are sore. Thankfully sweet Lonnie is home and hopefully his trip out of town has saved him from the contagious period of this yuckiness.

Happy Father's Day (New Zealand) Lonnie. It looks like I am the one who will be eating breakfast in bed this morning.

paci update

It has been 14 days since took away the kids pacifiers. Max and Maya feel asleep for their nap today with out any threats, songs, pleadings, reminders or screaming (this never actually worked, but I admit I tried it anyway).

I have alway believed kids need time to adjust. When Max and Maya were infants I believed in the three day rule: Don't consider anything a failure until the babies have had three days to adjust. But this has taken much longer and to be honest, I really didn't think the adjustment would take so long.

I think I may have backed down on the pacifier removal were it not for all the social presure....who knew peer presure still had force from the other side of the world? The other thing holding me back, that sweet family who were the recipients of our pacifiers were on a trip to the states, meaning I would have had to go out and buy brand new pacifiers.

So today after 14 days, for the first time Max and Maya went to sleep for their nap and all I had to do was put them into their cot (pack and play), tell them I loved them and leave the room.

water...hopefully this will be easier to take away or at least lower the amount

magic sleep bear- Thank you Calla and Bryn

Staying in the room until the kids feel asleep

expalining that big kids go to sleep with out having to be reminded

Of course it also probably helps that Maya is feeling a little sick today.

ambury park

We spent the morning at Ambury Park, about a 40 min drive from our home. I had heard about the park from a couple different people. When then sun was shining this morning and we didn't have any plans we decided to go check it out.The kids were thrilled when we told them we were going to a real farm. They wereeven more excited when they found out they would be able to actually touch the animals. We saw sheep, cows, pigs, horses, chickens, turkeys, goats and rabbits. The grounds were beautiful and the kids loved being able to run around. Thankfully we wore our gum boots.

We were able to go inside some of the paddocks and get up close to the animals. This photo of Max pretty much sums up what the kids thought of the farm. He kept saying "Ohhh....wow!!!".

We caught the 10:30am cow milking. Max and Maya were able to pet the heads of the milking cows.

The baby lambs ate grass right out of Max and Maya's hands. Maya curled up her fingers at one point and the baby lamb gave her a little scare when he nibbled on her finger.

Oh....and of course, because this is New Zealand...the park was right next to an amazingly beautiful bay. There was even a rainbow when we first arrived.

pacifier drama

We finally did it. After months, perhaps years, of talking about it, asking for advice and retreating, we finally decided to rid our home of pacifiers. A week ago last Wednesday night Lonnie and I realize we didn't really have anything planned for the weekend so we knew we could deal with grouchy children. This was going to be the weekend we cut off yet another tie to Max and Maya's infancy. It was time to say good-bye to the pacifier.

We talked to the kids for several days about how pacifiers are not for big kids but for babies. We told Max and Maya that we needed to take their pacifiers and give them to some babies. They were actually pretty excited about the idea. On Friday we went through the house and collected all the pacifiers we could find. We put them into a bag.

Maya thought it would be a good idea to also put them into a box. (Since receiving a package from Auntie Aimee, playing "Package from Aimee" has become one of their favorite games).

We are luck enough to have twins in our ward who were willing to be the recipients of the pacifiers.

Max was more interested in playing with Jamin and Jesse's toys than in anything else.

After the hand-off we took the kids out to McDonald's for dinner as a treat for being such big kids and leaving the pacifiers. We kept talking about how they would not longer have pacifiers to use when they went to sleep. That night when they laid down for sleep they didn't ask for their pacifiers but it took them a while to settle down. Maya cried for about an hour and a half. When I would go into check on her she never asked for her pacifier, but she asked for other things like water, toys or books. Once when I went in Max was also still awake but siting quietly in bed. After I Maya settled down Max asked for his pacifier but seemed to understand when I told him that we didn't have them anymore because we gave them to the babies. Maya woke up again later that night but then made it through the rest of the night.

It has now been six days since we cut the kids off from their pacis. They are sleeping better at night, but still taking longer to go to sleep than they used to. They also are requiring more interventions. They are also waking up about an hour earlier than they before. Nap times have seriously suffered. Before we took away the pacifiers they were napping for at least 2 hours a day. Now I am luck to get them down for an hour and a half and they require a lot of help to get settled down. I usually have to go in and check on them several times before they will finally go to sleep. When they were using their pacifiers I could just put them in their beds and leave the room. The kids aren't asking for their pacifiers but they are defiantly still having a hard time going to sleep and staying asleep with out them.

I assumed the transition would take less time than this. We have given it a good go, but it is taking a toll on all of us to have the kids sleeping less. So....should I go back to the pacifiers?

the truth about twins and sleeping

Don't worry twins will sleep through each other's cries.

It is 5:15 am and I am awake. I should be asleep, but about 30 mins ago Max started screaming, followed by Maya....I think.

Lonnie is out of town so instead of keeping Max in his room and laying him back in his bed I brought him into our room. Lonnie is out of town and I kind of liked the idea of comforting my scared little boy while falling back asleep myself. But them Maya started crying. I couldn't ignore her, although I could tell from the tone of the cry that most likely this would only last a few mins beofre she would fall back asleep.

I asked Max if he wanted to stay with mom or go back into his room. His answer, "Sissy". He chose the comfort of his sister over the comfort of his mom.

When people tell you that twins won't wake each other up with thier cries that isn't completly true, but what they don't mention is th Most of the time they do sleep though each other's cries. Sometimes they wake each other up, but sometimes they help each other get back to sleep.

the maze - ngataringa park

I've been wanting to visit the maze at Ngatarina park since I heard about it several months ago, but I wasn't sure how to get there other than parking on a busy road and walking for about a block....which isn't something I normally do with two busy kids who like to run away from me. On Saturday the sun was out and Lonnie and I had nothing planned so we went exploring.

jumping, bikes, view...

Maya has been trying for weeks to jump with two feet. This week she finally did it and she was thrilled.

The kids are perfecting their bike riding skills. Max wasn't very interested in the bikes until we got the new one, now he is almost as fast as Maya.

Maya has started dragging her foot behind her to slow herself down and keep stable.

Thankfully because they are so small falls don't seem to hurt too much. I'm glad they like to wear their helmets.

The weather lately has been odd. There has been a lot of rain, but then small sunny breaks. We are glad it is finally starting to get warm again. Max and Maya were excited to eat lunch outside a couple times this week.

Did I mention that just three houses down the street from our place is a stairway down to a pretty little bay? Can we convince anyone to come and visit? Air New Zealand has some great flights.....http://www.airnewzealand.com/72-hour-sale-economy-to-new-zealand

angels

Max and Maya like to pretend like they are butterflies. They run around the room flapping their arm. I love it. We were given one pair of angel wings and I found another pair at a charity shop, which is a good thing because they have been thrilled to use them.

Of course my kids aren't always angels. Somedays are really hard. Sometimes they drive me nuts with making messes and whinning. But there are moments when I sit back and stop worrying about the mess, of things that need to be done...and I realize that I am in the presence of angels, straight from heaven.

sloppy joes