motherhood: a slippery slope into madness

This morning I was on the computer, successfully procrastinating from typing up my CV, and Campbell was in his Jolly Jumper jumping merrily in the doorway. Now, for this story to make sense, I must say at this point that usually, I hate pictures of kids with food all over their faces. It makes my skin crawl. I think to myself, OMG, that is disgusting. Wipe your child's face immediately. Who on earth would take a photograph of their baby looking so gross?

Anyway, I heard Campbell start to make his "mum-mum-mum" noise, which means something is up. I turned to look at him. He had started to hiccup. And with each hiccup, a glob of regurgitated creamy banana oatmeal and congealed milk was falling to the floor. It was all over his chin and his top and even the big grin he was giving me, as if to say, look Mum! Look what I can do!

And then it happened. I looked at my little boy covered in his own vomit and thought, awwww....he's sooooo CUTE! I should get the camera!

Madness. I stopped myself, but only just. And that is how pictures like the one below, of Cambo eating solids for the first time and absolutely covered in icky sticky fruit, get on the internet. Because mothers think every single thing their child does is SO DAMN ADORABLE! Even when really, it's not.

Word.

i miss these faces

Especially the cute little brown-eyed one with the sticky-out ears. I can't believe he's crawling and I've missed it. My sweet Daveykins...I love you so much!

I was really tempted to try and bring Davey with us to Taranaki. Really tempted. Damn the fact that Charlotte and Steve love him as much as I do! They wouldn't let him go! lol

We had a quiet Easter settling into Nana and Grandad's place in Waitara. Poor Campbell has been sick with a cold (never ever travel with a sick child by yourself for six hours. Ever. That's all I have to say about that!) but he had a wonderful time at Great Grandad Ivan's birthday barbeque last Sunday. Apparently, trying to attach blocks to your cousin's face is a great bonding experience!

The kids were so great with Cambo, especially Tyler and Blair. And when I went to empty out the container we keep Campbell's blocks in, Kyla had posted two of her pink Easter lollies in there for him to enjoy later! lol Maybe next year, Kyla!

packing? not so much

I can't believe that we have only a few more days left in Whangarei! Time has passed so quickly. We have been busy making the most of our last week up North and have hardly made a dent in all the packing and to-do lists waiting for us!

We had a lovely afternoon in Auckland visiting with my cousin Steph, her husband Barry and two gorgeous girls Holly and Laura on Saturday. It was fantastic seeing them and Campbell was lapping up the attention, especially from Laura (who is nine). I could hear him giggling away in the lounge as Laura entertained him. Plus, Steph had a whole heap of cool new toys for him to play with - including a castanet. Campbell loves those!

Monday we went and visited a few places and people that have been important to Cam these past six months (and took photos so I could make a scrapbook page, of course). Below is a pic of Cam with Erin, our midwife. She hasn't seen him since he was about a month old! One of the things that truly sucks about moving to Taranaki is that Erin won't be our midwife during our next pregnancy. She is warm, friendly, open and so genuinely caring and compassionate. Labour with Campbell was wonderful, because Erin helped me manage it so well. I drew a lot of strength from her during that long hard process. I would highly recommend Erin as a midwife. She is more than that to Carl and I now...she is a friend. We will miss her so much!

Below is a picture of my friend, Aaron, and Campbell the same day. We randomly bumped into Aaron on the street, which is just as well because I wanted to get a photo of him with Campbell but forgot when he had us over for dinner the other day! Aaron and I have been friends since high school and he is so good to Cam. He bought Cambo the cool green t-shirt in the following pics as a little present, which was really sweet of him! And as you can see, it fits and suits our little guy perfectly. Carl is always teasing me that Aaron is my only friend in Whangarei (which is kind of true, actually) so he is pretty much the only one we ever visit! We will miss you, Aaron, and thanks for the great BBQ. Hope you're enjoying that ice-cream...LOL

Oh, and the cute hat was given to us by my old flatmate from my second year of uni and dear friend, Sarah. Thanks Sarah! We use the hat heaps...Cambo has outgrown the pants!

And to finish, some photos from today. We were trying to pack, but who wants to do that when there is playing to do? Cam was cracking up at Carl. I have never heard him laugh so hard or long! He is 100% a Daddy's boy...even when Carl puts buckets on his head! LOL

mmm...paper/plastic/anything but my toys

Campbell has entered a stage of being so inquisitive about everything lately. (Oh, wait, it's called childhood! lol) Of course, he has any number of toys that beep, rattle, play music and are adorned with buttons and mirrors and spinny things, but all he wants to play with are napkins, bits of random paper and anything else that is handy and can easily be shoved in his mouth. Hence the little packet of CCs in the photos below...he chewed on that for a good hour, mostly because it made a cool crackly noise. Campbell likes to make noise. =)

Look how well he's sitting by himself now! Such a clever boy!

Here are some more bib photos. They say: Thursday - today I'm being adorable. Friday - today I'm full of beans. Saturday - today I'm happy.

And yes, that is a jar lid Cambo is chewing on...instead of his toys. =)

days of the week

Carl and I found these sweet bibs for Campbell at Babycity on the weekend. They describe our little man perfectly! (They say: Monday - today I'm being clever. Tuesday - today I'm being cheeky. Wednesday - today I'm being so cute.)

We haven't been doing much these past few days, just hanging out at home mostly and visiting with Charlotte and Davey. We went to Plunket this morning, though, and Campbell is up to 8.8 kgs! He is above average for both his weight and height. And above average in cuteness, too! lol 

The photo below is so typical of how Davey and Cam interact at the moment. Davey loves to get as close to Campbell as possible, pull his hair, grab his neck fat and suck on his face...as a result, Cambo is not so keen on physical contact with his cousin, especially when dangerous little feet are being waved in his face! Hence the whiny expression. lol 

Today Cam had something to drink other than milk for the first time! Charlotte gave him some water in one of Davey's bottles and Cam loved it! He gulped it down and had some more at lunch today.