Queenstown 10k

Daddy's morning to run.

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Little Dribblers Football Club

Jason was thrilled to find an indoor soccer team at his work.  The team plays in a league at lunchtime on Wednesdays in a gym right next to the Queens Wharf Heliport on the Wellington Harbour about 1/2 mile from our home.  He is LOVING it!  I want to be a supportive "soccer wife" but honestly I haven't really gotten into spectating the sport.  That being said, Jessica and I went to a game this week with our kids to cheer on our husbands.  Although they lost (insisting it was the worst game they've ever played) they both scored a goal - it was actually a lot of fun to watch. 
Here is a video that gives you a feel for the game (unfortunately I didn't catch a goal):

Here we are cheering on daddy/husband:

This leads me to the question du jour.  Do we sign up Charlie for the 3&Under Little Dribblers Football Club in Wellington???  If you can believe it there is actually an Under 2 team.  I think that would be hilariously painful to watch....  :)   When I was pregnant with Charlie, we decided that we wanted to expose him to soccer (Jason's influence) and swimming (my influence) as a young kid. Is 3 years old too young for a soccer team?  Would it be good for his social and gross motor skills or will we go crazy watching him pick grass and "make salads" with the dandelions (most recent passion)?  It is only 10 Saturdays, and although we will miss a few weekends, we are largely home....  Thoughts?   




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Haircuts with Daddy

Cloth Diapers and More Fun Stuff

I decided to cloth diaper when I was pregnant with Charlie and I'm so thankful I did. I started with over 30 BumGenius 3.0 velcro diapers when he was born. After 3 years, the velcro is starting to curl and lose its "stickiness". My sister Emily encouraged me to convert the diapers from velcro to snaps saying that it was a relatively easy process. My 3 goals for my past summer in Minnesota were 1.) Wedding Album 2.) Baby Book 3.) Cloth Diaper Conversion to Snaps. I successfully completed #1 and #2, but ran out of time for #3. I am happy to say that I have (pretty much) successfully conveted 24 diapers to snaps from velcro. I am one of the least crafty people I know (my sisters will attest to my Christmas tree ornaments made of walnuts on popsicle stick skiis - pretty lame gift for a 10-year old from her middle school sister). I've really improved my skills. At first each diaper would take about an hour and ended up looking like the first diaper below. Today I was able to finish each diaper in about 15 minutes and they really turned out nice.

The snaps are very unforgiving, in that it's very hard to remove them if you mess up.  I just kept adding a snap to try to remedy my bad snaps... it was a mess! 

All that being said, converting all of the diapers cost me about $50 and I'm sure they will last through Liam potty-training. I know I've saved a bunch of money by primarily using cloth, and they look so stinkin' cute in the colorful cloth diapers. It is also really fun to share cloth diapering with my sisters who are also doing it with their little guys. Speaking of potty training - Charlie went poopy on the potty twice today - making a point to do it "all by himself" (pooping, wiping, flushing, washing his hands). He was SO proud of himself!

Baby Judah - pic o' day:

It sounds like Baby Judah is extremely chill and peacefull (gets it from Maria for sure - ha, ha, just kidding Aaron!). I'm excited that I came up with his middle name "Aaron." I guess, Maria and Aaron would've eventually suggested it, but I would still like be able to claim it. Oh wow - I just want to hold that little guy so badly!!!

Health update - Liam and Charlie are finishing up their antibiotics and look MUCH better than last week. Charlie is itching to go to preschool - so I am hopeful he will be good to go tomorrow. Jason is still feeling a little residual cough/chest stuff - so please pray for him if you think of it.

Here is Liam and Jason skyping with Gran and Grandad:

Another one bites the dust...

  Jason came home early from work today feverish.  His temperature was almost at 104 degrees.   Charlie woke up from his nap blinded by yellow crustys. It was somewhat comical - changing Liam's poopy diaper, feeding Charlie, cold compressing Jason, feeding Liam, reading books with Charlie and getting Jason food/drink, all the while washing my hands a million times so not to cross-contaminate.  I guess there are a lot of foreign germs that we're not accustomed to and it's hitting our family a little hard.  We prayed for Charlie and Daddy tonight and believe God is going to make things better quickly.    Just an update on the meeting about my possible job.  It sounds interesting, challenging and flexible.  The woman in charge was really enthusiastic and is leading the charge to get me on-board.  I'm pretty excited -- but still don't want to over-commit.  I just need to manage expectations on what I can accomplish.  I now need some clothes (sisters where are you???).  I cobbled together an outfit for my meeting last week and it involved black pants and brown boots (isn't that a majorly big no no).  I think I'm going shopping with a new friend tomorrow so hopefully I can find a few cute staple work outfits.  I miss my camouflage (actually not really!). 
Excited to skype with Baby Judah.... it won't be the same as holding him - that's for sure.... When will you make your appearance little one?  When you're ready of course!     

Barbie

Setting up the BBQ with daddy. Excited to get some use out of
our patio as we enter spring (however recently heard that spring is the stormiest, windiest and overall most unpredictable time of year).











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Freak Accident

Jason and I started hosting a small group from our church on Thursday nights at 7pm. At 615pm Jason tried to open a bottle of beer with kitchen sheers and somehow sliced his fingertip (almost) off. Jason started getting really light headed and we were concerned that he needed stitches. We didn't know what to do with the boys, so Jason suggested I call NZ 911 and get him an ambulance. Instead we called our friends who picked him up and brought him to the ER. Here is a picture of him eating his omelette before leaving. It was on his right hand so our friend helped him fill out the paperwork (what happened - "playing with scissors"). Although the nurse suggested Jason wait for the doctor to decide if stitches were necessary, after waiting for almost 2 hours and the bleeding stopped, Jason consulted with the nurse and decided to head home to small group.

Things I'm thankful for today:
1. Jason finger is healing nicely
2. Charlie napped at preschool and pooped in the potty before bed
3. We had 13 people at our home tonight - it is a SUPER great group
4. Meeting about possible job went well - waiting to see how we could work it out
5. My baby sister is going to HAVE A BABY SOON!!!

ZORB!

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Thank You Amazon.com

I've never enjoyed shopping this much in my life. Online shopping is dangerously fun and easy. About once a week we get a text from Ken the mail guy at the embassy saying we'll need our van to bring home all of our packages. Too much fun! In all actuality, we're saving lots by shopping from the US vice NZ. Case in point, the $50 garbage can we got from amazon.com today would be 3 to 4 times more expensive here.







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Grizzly man helping me come up with a blog title