leap day update

Hello everyone, and happy Leap Day! My sincerest apologies that I have neglected you for so long...first Campbell and I got sick with a horrendous flu, and since then we have just been busy, busy, busy. Poor excuses I know, but now I'm back on top of things and promise to keep you more up-to-date with our happenings.

I guess I should start this post by saying Carl and I have made some major decisions lately, and the biggest one involves a move back to Taranaki! Yes, we are leaving Northland and heading back down to Dub T (aka Waitara). This mostly has to do with Carl's job...he isn't enjoying the one up here and feels he will have better opportunites (and better pay) at his old sawmill in Bell Block. Carl's parents have generously offered to let us stay with them while we get ourselves sorted (thanks, Geoff and Jenny), and I will be looking for a part-time job as well, to supplement Carl's income and pay some bills. But once we have settled back in, we will be looking to head out on our own, which Carl and I are really looking forward to. There's nothing like having your own house and your own space - I feel we have encroached on our parents for far too long, but thank God they have been there to bail us out when we needed them! =)

Of course, my family isn't thrilled that we are leaving, and I'm finding it really upsetting as well. I know this is the right move for us to make, but it is still extremely difficult. The worst part was telling my Mum...she broke down in tears and has told my sister she will be "heartbroken" to see Campbell go. Living with my parents has forged an incredible bond between Campbell and them, and Cam adores them both, especially Mum. Of course, the flip side of leaving my parents is that Campbell will be able to spend more time with Carl's. (Note: pic of Dad, Mum and Cam taken quite some time ago! lol)

Leaving my sister is also a real wrench for me. I didn't realise until now how much I rely on Charlotte's company during the day, how thrilled I always am to spend time with her and my nephew and make plans for their future together. We have started taking Cam and Davey to music (more on that below) and were looking to take them to swimming after they turned six months old, not to mention countless other little adventures we had planned for them. I have witnessed my sister blossom into an amazing mother, someone I admire and copy all the time when it comes to interacting with Cam. She is patient, creative, funny, warm and so generously loving towards my little boy as well as her own son. I have never laughed as hard with her or bonded with her as much as I have since September last year. I hope Charlotte will always know how proud I am of her, and how much I love her. I want her to always have confidence in her abilities as a mother, because she is amazing. I think this photograph of Davey really says it all...he is one gorgeous, happy little dude. I will miss you both more than I am ever able to say.

Well, I'm tearing up here, so on to other things. The decision has been made, Carl finishes work up here on March 13, but in the meantime life goes on for our sweet little man. As I mentioned above, Charlotte and I took the boys to a music session this morning. It's held in a church a few blocks down the road and Steve's (Charlotte's partner's) stepmother invited us along. It was so much fun! The boys loved it. It's basically just singing and dancing for babies and toddlers, and then a snack at the end. Cam and Davey lapped up every minute, had a good chew on some of the props used during the songs, then both came home and crashed! I will have to find something similiar down in Taranaki because Cambo loves music. He was looking around with big eyes the whole time, especially at the other kids.

In other news, Cam now fits in his highchair (courtesy of Pete and Nicola...thanks guys!). He's growing up so fast! He especially likes dumping his toys off the sides while he is waiting for a meal...I imagine it will be food flung on the floor soon...can't wait for that! =)

Some floor time...

And some bonding time with Ollie this afternoon. A busy, happy Leap Day! I hope yours has been as good. =)

so utterly adorable

Carl had the cute idea of dressing Cam in some of his sports shirts this morning. It was so funny to see our tiny wee man in his Dad's clothes...reminded me of just what a little guy he really is! The blue shirt is a Rio Ferdinand one (he plays for Manchester United). Carl told me that if I got him this shirt, he'd marry me. Needless to say, I didn't waste any time...and my proposal came about four months later! :) The yellow shirt is from Carl's hockey tournament when he played for the Taranaki Under 18's (I think). They were the NZ Champs that year and I know Carl really values the memories associated with this shirt.

And to finish, a couple of funny pics of Cam napping this afternoon. He's so sweet...like I said in my title, so utterly adorable! Love him to peices. (And I also love Carl to pieces, because he has looked after Cam and let me scrapbook for most of the day. You rock babe!)

blurry

I have decided to use a blurry picture for today's photo simply because this best illustrates what Campbell is like at the moment. Always moving/wobbling/rolling/trying to explore. It's almost impossible to get a non-blurry photo on the natural light settings on our camera (I hate using the flash during the day). I chose this one because Cam was having so much fun trying to balance himself in a sitting position on Poppa's lap...you can tell it would have been a darling photo if it was in focus, lol.

Here's another random pic from today. I love the way Cam cranes his head around to follow me when I'm walking past his cot. He has the cutest chubbiest cheeks and most adorable chin ever! I could just eat him.

Some people have asked how I do the portraits of the boys. I simply hang a white sheet over a couple of chairs in the lounge by the ranch slider and snap away. I just take photo after photo after photo and go through them later, delete the ones I don't like and viola! The results are luck more than anything. With babies, you have to work fast, otherwise they get grumpy. It helps to have another person with you - usually Charlotte stands behind me, singing and waving toys to make them laugh or get their attention. Thank you to everyone who said they looked like they had been done by a professional!

happy valentine's day!

It's a bit hectic around here tonight, so just a quick post. I hope everyone's having a great Valentine's Day - Carl surprised me with a rose, soft toy and bottle of sparkling grape juice (see pics below). Love that little lion - and the fact that he thinks I'm a "hot mama". lol

Here's today's photo - Cam reluctantly being given big squishy kisses from Aunty Charlotte and Gran!

promises, promises

Hi everyone. I'm so sorry I didn't post yesterday - it was another night from hell, in which Campbell didn't get to sleep until 10pm and was up again at 11pm and 1.30am! This is due to the Safe T Sleep, which we bought for him because we had a theory that if he couldn't wriggle around in his sleep, he would sleep through the night. Turns out our theory was dead wrong and he sleeps better with his arms and legs jammed through the gaps in his cot.

Today Charlotte and I had a black-and-white photo shoot with the boys in honour of Valentine's Day tomorrow (they wore the t-shirts we got them for Christmas that say "So Loved"). I did one of these when they were eight weeks and everybody loved how they turned out, so I was really keen to see how this one would go. I think the results speak for themselves:

This is my favourite:

And here are some of Davey:

These are just some of the gorgeous pictures we got. I know it's wrong to brag, but aren't they just the two most adorable kids in the whole wide world?! They're gonna be heartbreakers when they're older. I'm just so proud of my handsome little boy and my cutie-pie nephew!

Here's an additional picture from today. I wonder what he's thinking about:

If you are a family member who would like a copy of any of the portraits, feel free to leave a comment telling me which one you like and I will deliver it to you during our travels over Easter. The easiest way to leave a comment is to click the "comments" tab at the end of this post, click "anonymous" and just put your name at the end of your comment.

hi jenny!

And hello to everyone else who has been missing their daily dose of cuteness (aka Campbell). This past weekend has been a rough one - on Saturday I woke up with a migraine after being up four or five times with Cam during the night. Luckily Carl was able to take him downtown for a couple of hours while I had a sleep, but I wasn't 100% for the rest of the day and Cambo really picked up on it. We were all cranky, tired, hot and, combined with Campbell's teething, all pretty much at the end of our ropes. Cam and I went to bed at 8pm on Saturday night...we both passed out from exhaustion, lol. So no blog update on Saturday, but here are the picks:

We went out and bought Campbell some more toys on Saturday, including this teether thing. It amused him for, oh, 5 seconds! But at least we tried to provide new entertainment, even if he wasn't having a bar of it.

Notice the drool all over Cam's chin and top. Mmmm, nice. One of the most attractive side-effects of teething!

One of the new toys we got for Cambo was a musical mat for his Jolly Jumper. It plays all sorts of music and silly noises and animal sounds when you step on it. Davey absolutely adored it - he was like, "WOW! This is GREAT! I can't BELIEVE it makes NOISE!" and was laughing and squealing away. Cam was more like, "Oh yeah. It's OK." lol

A photo to sum up Saturday's mood....love the scowl. Sick of everything!

Sunday wasn't much better, with Cam still in a grump and Carl and I trying desperately to entertain him whilst going through boxes and tidying up downstairs (still haven't unpacked everything since our move up here in June last year!). I think the weekend was a low point for all three of us, and nothing much got done except a lot of crying and tantrum throwing (on mine and Cam's part) and frustrated yelling (on Carl's). In the end, instead of blogging, we went for a walk in the evening when it cooled down and got ice-creams, which was nice. And Cam slept for a miraculous six hours last night, so we are all feeling more normal today. Here are Sunday's photos:

I haven't taken any today...and I hear Cam crying out in the lounge, so I better wrap this up. I promise I will post again tomorrow!

paper pesto sketch challenge

My cousin, Steph, has an awesome website called Paper Pesto (that you can access through the links under "Helen's Favourite Websites"). It's a scrapbooking kit company - she and her friends Kate and Fi put together the most fun and inspiring scrapbooking kits with everything you need - stickers, cardstock, patterned paper and embellishments. They're such good value for money, save you so much time because you have everything at hand and don't have to worry about matching a bunch of different products, and they have a great design team that come up with a whole lot of pages every month showing you how you can use the products.

Today Paper Pesto started posting a sketch challenge, and here's the page I've done for it. The patterned paper is from the October "On the Periphery" kit, and the chipboard letters and little metal clips by my journaling are from the "Pitter Patter" Taste of Pesto kit. I painted the chipboard with Making Memories "Fire Engine Red" paint and the cardstock is Bazzill. The photos are of my cutie-pie nephew, Davey - isn't he a dreamboat? Oh, and my wonderful sister!

Journaling says:

"Charlotte and I wanted to take some photos of the boys one afternoon in January 2008. Campbell wasn't having a bar of it...and neither was Davey, until Charlotte posed with him. You have to admit...even when he's throwing a tantrum, Noosh is still one gorgeous little dude!"

Of course, in real life the journaling is straight - our scanner and stitching programme aren't that great sorry. I'm so happy at the way this turned out though, and more importantly, Steve and Charlotte loved it as well. They were so excited I was posting it for the challenge!

Today's photos are of Cambo chewing away on the tiger Ivan and Doreen (his great grandparents on Carl's side) got him for Christmas. Lately this has been "the" toy he really loves and enjoys playing with. He even giggles when you make its head spin around!

one exhausted kid

It is just past midday as I write this, and Campbell has been asleep since 9.30am! Unreal for him. He had a bad night last night though. Doesn't he look sweet all fast asleep?

As you can see, he has become a side/tummy sleeper. I know he's somewhat out of the woods for SIDS now he's over four months old, but they drum that much paranoia into you about it that I am constantly getting up in the night and hovering over his cot to make sure he's breathing. Plus, they say, "If you see him on his stomach, roll him onto his back" - all well and good if your child doesn't wake up when you do it! Cam hates being moved in his sleep. Oh well, I'm sure I'll relax about it one day. When he's eleven, maybe.

Here are some of the scrapbook pages I've been working on lately, using black-and-white photos. The first are family photos from Geoff and Jenny's birthdays while we were down in Taranaki. One of the fun things about getting engaged to Carl was inheriting his neices and nephews. Aren't they adorable? This was the first time Cambo went down a slide. He wasn't too sure about it at all, but he ended up having turns with Tyler, Blair, Dylan and Hayley, which was cool for them too. It's neat to see the way they interact with Cam.

These pics are of Blair and Tyler on the go karts they got for Christmas. The boys couldn't wait to show them off and Cambo got a ride on one of those, too!

And to finish today's post, a sweet little pic of Campbell in his Jolly Jumper. I have sooo many photos of him in this thing - I just love how happy he is when he's in there. He has the best time. And he looks so cute to boot!