And so xmas gets closer.....

Shopping. Usually I really enjoy it, in fact Andrew thinks im addicted to it (his 1st question when he gets home is usually 'what have you bought today?).
I absolutely HATE shopping at this time of the year. People people everywhere. Waiting in long lines and standing around trying to get help from shop assistants is a nightmare hey.
Hence the scene last night at the mall. God it was a nightmare and five hours later we had got some of what we wanted but still have to spend the next week popping in and out here and there to finish it all off. Probably be better if we were a bit more organised I guess.
Xmas day is set to be bloody wonderful weather here. I hope that NZ fares just as well. No major plans, just everyone meeting at our house (they say its because ours is the only place big enough for all but really) and a big late lunch and festivities.
Very tiring but bloody wonderful i bet
xxxxxxx

Nieces and Nephews

Heres a couple of pics of my gorgeous nieces and nephews. Patience, Destiny, Trinity, Tregan, Jasper and Ruby. Kiss Kiss to you all

Kylas dog judge

After much bitching and moaning, Kyla finally got to get herself a dog. His name is Judge and he is now nearly 3 months old. Unfortunately he was a naughty little blighter so to counter act it, Andrew went out and got a one year old female dog called Roxy to teach him. Must say that it seems to have worked so far

A few pics

Body Jammin

After a little while of talking about it, Liane, Karleen and I decided on action and attended a Body Jam fitness class at the YMCA down the road from Lianes.
We have decided to start our new years resolution and get fit and lose some weight, which, after 5 kids and a bit of procrastination, I really need to do.
It was so much fun, different to the normal fitness classes where to be honest, I never have much fun at anyway. Though it was still pretty hard out, the instructor was cool, the class was small and it was full of women which was even better. We even learn how to dance through it. The mamba, the chachacha, some hip hop.
SO our goals at the mo:
# Get fit
# Watch what we eat (the hardest thing for all 3 of us!)
# Lose some weight!!
It seems to be working out okay so far. Its a lot easier to be doing it with other people and have that support there for us. Really need it if your self control is up the creek :)

Reflections in our children

Liane and I have been looking at a Ruby now as she grows so fast and becomes even more expressive in her facial features.
Theres the infamous scowl/frown that makes her look just like her Uncle Andrew.
Then theres the cheeky grin that crinkles up her face and makes her look the spitting image of her Uncle Gerard.
And then theres the serene and calm look that she gets that has you see that her mum is in there somewhere.
And I agree with Aunty Jess, she looks so much like her two!

Starting Life and Moving on

Well Liane, Dave and kiddies have finally moved onto the next phase in their new life. They have finally secured them a house! After a lot of dramas (note to everyone, most real estate agents are useless here where we live!) they have scored them a nice 3 bedroom place in Warnbro. GOOD ON YOU GUYS!
It will be a bit lonely without them, I have loved having a baby in the house and I was getting a real good bond with both Ruby and Jas, but they will be just down the road and we will see them regularly so thats better than nothing hey : )So tomorrow they get to start life on their own in their own house.
And tomorrow night us girlies (myself, Liane and my other sis-in-law Karleen) will be able to get out WITHOUT husbands and kiddies yeeha. Needless to say the three of us are soo ready for some 'me' time.
In other exciting news, I wanna welcome a neew nephew into our family. Staci Wiremu Hatu Reweiti was born on Saturday, in Auckland. His parents and sisters are very happy and excited at the arrival of their son/brother. Cant wait to meet him.
kiss kiss

In case youve forgotten what we look like......

Ok so Ive realised I havent put any photos of the kids on here for a real long time, here are a couple that I thought you would like. Most of them are from Brisbane as I didnt bring the other cd but they should tide you over so enjoy.
p.s We have a new addition to our family so you can meet him next time. He is sooo cute. Lata

La De Da

Didnt really no what to name this post so la de da it is.
I have finally put some photos on disc to clear my memory card and to put some photos onto our blog so am pretty chuffed to find that it has worked! A pain that I havent got a computer yet but havent really found the time or the energy at this time so untill i do, this will do fine.
A couple of days after Ruby arrived in Perth, she started to sit all by herself with no support which is cool. Dont let the photos fool you. Shes in a bit of a grump the past couple of days. We are waiting for our airconditioning to get fixed as it decided to stop on us last thurs and the heat has hit us finally. So she is not enjoying it one little bit. They are starting to sleep really well and I watch with envy some nights as Dave and Liane put their little darlings asleep around 7 - 7.30 (if not earlier) while my terrors are still awake and kicking. I am also relieved that Roo & Jas have gotten used to the noise that is our household and arent so easy to wake. Trying to get my kids to be quiet is an impossible feat in itself not to mention their 3 quarters deaf father :). Ive been trying to get some photos of Jas as well but that is proving impossible due to the fact that he is such a busy little bee and doesnt really like to be still for too long. And when I do get him still long enough on the perfect pose, the bloody time delay on the digital camera usually means that I miss the whole shot by the time its taken AARGH! But patience is a virtue and sooner or later I will get there and untill then Ruby isnt shy about giving her aunty heaps of photo ops.
We are trying to get a group photo of the boys (LJ, Ethan and Jas) but the two younger ones arent having it at the mo, just wont sit still long enough. Patience, patience. Liane and I have taken a couple of gorgeous ones of Kyla, Katy, Maddy and Ruby as a group so will post them when we get a chance. It so nice to be able to take some family photos involving the children on Andrews side of the family.
Dave started work with Andrew today. We had a bbq on Friday and introduced him to a few of his new workmates. I hope he likes it.

Busy busy

Well our household has expanded by four now and its great!!
Liane, Dave, Jasper and baby Ruby arrived in Perth on Sunday, very tired but very excited about being here. After a bit of drama in Sydney they were very very happy to get to their destination.
It was very exciting to finally get to meet Jas and Ruby, they are both such beautiful children. After a couple of days of getting up very very early, I think they are starting to get used to the time difference. It is so great to watch Ethan and Jasper play, they are very funny together. They teach each other alot too!
Liane and Dave seem to be enjoying Perth, though look forward to getting all their business done (househunting, medicare etc)so that they can enjoy it a bit more. But all in all its all good!
Anyway wont give away too much as Im sure they will tell you all about it in their blog.

Brotherly Love

We are all enjoying our new house. The kids are going mad with all the space and have made friends with all the neighboring children.
We have this funny little chap to the left of us. Hes a curly red hair and freckles and must be about 4 years old. He sorta reminds me of Huckleberry Finn. The day we were moving in he comes racing across the lawn yelling at us 'Hello neighbours how are you all?' and proceeds to give Kyla a big hug and tries to kiss her. Within seconds his big sis comes rushing over, and apologising profusely, drags him home. But he kept coming back. Poor thing eventually got her dad to take the little blighter home, she seemed so embarrassed but he was cute. Now when we pull up in the driveway its guaranteed that he will pop up from somewhere and its a usual sight to see him in our backyard. Always trying to hug and kiss us all though.
A not so nice thing happened to Liam last night and sort of worries me.
Ethan wanted one of LJs inventions that Liam was playing with. LJ said no. Ethan went into his sisters room, grabbed her little metal jewellry box, walked back out to the lounge and smacked Liam in the top of the head with it declaring as he said, 'See, I told you so meanie.' Dont know what he meant and didnt really have time to dwell on it as Liams head started pissing out with blood!!
End result it seemed like the box had connected with his head on the corner and had put a small hole in the top of his head. Thank god he didnt need stiches but Ethans temper worries me a bit sometimes :(

Getting there

Whew this is going to be a big next couple of weeks!
We move into our house this Friday in Port Kennedy. We are all excited as we figure its about time that we had our own space again. Acting like holidaymakers was fun but all good things come to an end. We are hoping our stuff from Brisbane arrives in time for the much anticipated arrival of the Doyle clan. Its supposed to but considering it was supposed to leave a week and a half ago but didnt till yesterday, you just never know. I forget sometimes that Australia is such a big place. Keep thinking that you can go from one end to the other in a couple of days like back home in NZ. But is going to take between 10-14 days for it to all arrive here.
Fingers crossed.
School started today after two weeks of holidays YEEHA. Hate the holidays. Maddisyn is really getting into school now. She sometimes still has her little naps in the arvo but was getting better towards the end of last term.
Shucks my kids are growing so fast now and they are so much older that I know Aunty Liane and Uncle Dave arent going to recognise them when they arrive. Be lots and lots of photos to take. Speaking of photos, I think that Im able to download photos straight from my camera onto my blog from this library.
Heres hoping!!

Long time

Hi everyone.
Gosh its been a real long time since Ive had the oppurtunity to post something but with all the relocating and stuff I havent had an internet connection on hand and now my laptops died on me!! Guess I get to shop for a new one now but untill then Im stuck using cafes and library internet so no photos for a little while.
The biggest news that we have to share is our big relocation to Perth. We are currently in the process of looking for a house after weeks of living at a holiday village. Enough of the holiday thing time to get back into the real world i guess. We have decided to live in a lovely place about an hour out of central Perth called Rockingham. Or one of its surrounding suburbs. The kids are going to school in Safety Bay which is next to Rockingham. And we are surrounded by beaches. So lovely and will be very handy during the oncoming summer.
Andrew is working at the navel base and is enjoying the new lifestyle as are we all. Im just grateful that finally we get to settle for a long time and I think we have chosen an awesome place to do it!
Anyway just a quick one this time. Talk to you all again soon. xxxx

I love you.....babee

Ethan is such a laugh at the moment.

He hears Andrew and I say to each other and the kids 'I love you babe/baby (as we call one another and the kids) so now his reply is 'I love you (pause) BABEE' or 'I love you (pause) HEAPS!'. He sounds so cute when he says it. He also likes to say to me and his dad 'Your soooo mean!'

His vocab is now so full of so many words that its all starting to blend into sentences that are understandable. Wont be too long before he is able to participate in an actual conversation with us!! He has also ditched his highchair in favor of big kids chairs which is a bit of a pain when it comes to cleaning up the mess that he still likes to make with his food.

Ethan likes to be with his dad when Andrew does boxing with his boxing bags downstairs. He has gotten that interested in it that Andrew lowered one of the bags so that he is able to reach it and its so funny when I see father and son doing their left-left right jab. Unfortunately Ethan has started doing it to wooden poles/walls/fences WITHOUT gloves so I have raised the bag and told Andrew no more. Especially when he left-left right jabbed Maddisyn in the face the other day. Hes a little toughie though Ill give him that.

Winter pains

ok im not a hundred percent, but damn it feels like winter is here. Im not too good at seasons and all but with the plummeting temperatures and the athritic pains that im starting to get in my ankles, i guess that its just about here.

Not much has happened lately other than the basic grind of life. We had my sister and her family stay the weekend to say goodbye to Hopa before he leaves for Perth tomorrow. It was a bit noisy but I guess you get that with a houseful of 5 adults and 10 kids.

There was a bit of an incident on Saturday though. Maddy and Hopas son Tregan were out on the little deck outside Maddys room playing. From what we could gather, they were teasing Ethan, who slammed the deck door closed. On Tregans finger. It sliced off the top of his finger and left it hanging there by a bit of skin and nail. We couldnt really figure out how it managed to slice the finger coz its not like there were any sharp edges but sliced it was. Yuck

Fortunately there was no need for surgery, just a few stitches and he was home again a few hours later.

Andrews birthday tomorrow, the big 33. How time is flying. Seems just like yesterday that we were starting our life together and now 12 years and 5 kids later.....

Brrr gonna go and snuggle up to the birthday boy. Flipping cold.

Eeewww

Ok so Ethan has started doing something real gross that only makes it bearable due to the fact that it probably leads to better things.

When he does a number 1 in his nappy, he will go and grab a clean one, seek out either his father or myself. Throwing the clean one at us, he will declare 'Eewww' and lie down in preperation for a change.

BUT

When he does a number 2 he rids himself of the dirty nappy and will carry on doing what he was doing before. Gross a big cleanup job for one of us. It would be so much better if he did this ritual THE OTHER WAY ROUND! dontcha think.

We are hoping these are signs that he is ready to toilet train soon. We usually have no problems with this. From start to fully trained usually takes our children 3 weeks max. But Ethan is doing ALL things different to any of our other children.

We also got some lovely photos in the mail the other day of our gorgeous new niece Ruby. As we were 'oohing' and 'aahing' over the photos, Ethan sat down between us and pointed to his Gran.

'Thats Gran' we say. 'Gran' is his reply.

Then he points to Ruby. 'Thats Ruby' we say. 'Woobee' he declares.

Then its uncle Daves turn. 'Uncle Dave' we say. Confusion shows on his face. 'No' he protests. 'Yes' we insist. 'NO' he yells and starts getting upset. Thought it was a bit of an overreaction until Andrew realises that my brother is also Dave and thats who Ethan knows as uncle Dave.

So we have come up with a solution. My brother is usually called Davy (tho his name is actually David), so we have started referring to him as 'Uncle Davy' and brother-in-law Dave is now 'Uncle Dave'.

And Uncle Hopa has graduated from 'Uncle Booba' to 'Uncle Ho-pa'

Oh and all babies are now 'Woobee'

Liams 8th birthday

Many thanks to all who made the effort to wish Liam a happy birthday yesterday. He had a wonderful day filled with many pressies and lots of junk food.

He was very happy with two particular pressies, an all black lunchbox that was sent to him from his aunt Liane and Uncle Dave. He proudly went to school with it yesterday. And bionicle leggo sent to him from his Gran. They have barely left his hands since he opened it.

Amazing that children can find enjoyment from the simplest things. Thing is we seem to forget this and buy them the best that we can only to have them put it aside for things that we should have thought of but opted not to. Spose its a parents perogative hey :)

We had a bbq with some friends and a couple of birthday cakes and finished the night off with some dvds.

Well thats 3 birthdays gone, only 4 left to go in our LITTLE family.

A lovely mothers day out

Another thing about my inpromptu mothers day yesterday.

A friend of mine, Sophie, and I thought it would be lovely to spend the afternoon out just laxing and stuff and spend the day just us, no kids or anything. Her daughter and Kyla are best friends so she was able to spend the day at our house.

We set off at 12 and caught a taxi into fortitude valley and went to this lovely chinese seafood place in chinatown. It was pretty busy but once I had tasted the food I realised why. It was divine. It was also the first time I had tasted crab in the shell (other than crayfish) and I must say it melted on my tongue.

It was also a buffet sort of thing. Lots of waiters and waitresses walked around the tables with hot dishes on trolleys and you just pointed to what you wanted and they handed it over. That was your entree and then you could also order your main from the menu. First time I had ever been to a place that did things that way.

Then, with full bellies and our doggie bags, we went for a walk around the valley before cruising off to the casino in the city. It was interesting. And big but I still prefer Sky City. We stayed there for quite a few hours and overindulged (alcohol wise) and met alot of interesting people, including a maori guy who, after talking to him a while, we figured out that we were probably related. Funny, that seems to happen a lot. Youre either related or know the same people but never seem to meet untill your AWAY from home.

Anyway, caught a bus back to Sophies (AJ wont drive in the city. He always gets lost coz of the one way streets and no bloody taxis!) and waited for AJ to pick me up.

A very nice, relaxing afternoon. It was nice to have some alone time and female company.

Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair

On Saturday we had no car and were stuck at home untill Andrew finished work so Maddisyn decided that she wanted her hair braided.

An hour and a bit later, the 1st pic was the result.

The last pic was the END result when we undid all the braids yesterday.

Though she looked cute, it was a mission to tame her hair into something tidy and she was getting annoyed with the extra 'afro' so the do didnt last very long.

Funny thing too, for some reason everyone thought it was Mothers Day yesterday, so I got the nice brekky and flowers and choccies.

Imagine my darling familys faces when I informed them it was Mothers Day NEXT week and how much I was looking forward to doing the same thing next week.

Needless to say I was informed that this was only a once a year thing and I had just had it!

Anyway we will be celebrating Liams birthday next weekend.Wow hes going to be 8, time is going so fast.

Kyla is the one that is freaking us out, her social life surpasses ours. Its gotten that bad that we have put restrictions on what she can do during the school week. Had to, otherwise we would never see her. And she has totally thrown off that 'daddys little girl' tag and is very very independant and strongwilled. She always has been but now its the older version that is so impossible to control.

Wow we only have to do this stage 4 more times :( so looking forward to it

Always a kiwi

Andrew and my brother went to the pub tonite to watch the test match, New Zealand vs Australia. They were certain they were off to see a winning match, for us kiwis of course.

Me, Im not as into it as them so opted to stay home with the kiddies and keep an eye on the score during the breaks while I was watching flashdance.

Andrew and Hopa came home before the end of the game grumbling and cursing, and not at all happy.

The funny thing was that once the game ended their mobiles started going off with txts from their ozzie mates, which started off a fresh round of curses from the boys and a whole lot of laughter from me as I read each of them.

Now I no why they came home before the end of the game. Paybacks a #*#*# and Im sure that theyll hear all about it again tomorrow, just like the shit that they give all ozzies when we win :)

In recovery

Well now that Ethans forehead has gone down a lot his dad wanted to put a couple of shots of him 'in recovery'. Alot of bruising has come up around his eyes and his nose is pretty puffy which worried me but AJ says its normal and with his vast experience I have to take his word for it. Everyone calls him a klingnon (star trek) but he takes it on the chin. Hes a little toughie our son but that doesnt mean we want this to become a habit hey :)

Barron Warrior

Well its 1.10am in Brisbane and we have just retuned home from the hospital with Ethan, our little warrior.

Cant sleep and have to wake my son up in a couple of hours to check on him and thought what better way to pass the time than update everyone on the latest escapades in the Barron household.

'Twas a nice but slightly chilly afternoon in Brisbane, and with Andrew and my brother working late and me stuck at home with my 5 kids and my 4 year old nephew, we thought 'what the hell, lets have a bbq'. So we invited ourselves to my sisters house for dinner (yay no dishes tonight, was certainly a strong point for my daughter)and packed up the car and went over.

It started out ok. The adults chatting around the barby and 9 kids running around the yard, playing and causing mischief. It was a relaxing start and everyone was enjoying themselves.

I was heading upstairs to check on my 7 month old godchild and all I heard was my sister yell out 'Liam be careful. Put that down.' and then more urgently 'Watch out!' then a thud and Ethan started crying. Loudly.

By the time I had got to my son, he had a lump the size of a basketball that varied in colours; pink, white and black, and a distressed older son who was staring with tears in his eyes at his baby brother.

Liam had found a block of wood in the garage (think wood chopping block shape but half the size), bought it out to the yard and was showing his cousins how strong he was by throwing it as far as he could. Unfortunately his aim was apparently off and his brothers forehead became the unintended target.

Neither me nor my sister had ever seen a lump so large and so I packed the kids in the car, dropped the others off at home with my brother, picked up his dad (guess they didnt end up working so late hey) and we rushed off to the hospital. By then Ethan had stopped crying and was back to his normal self. Giggly, alert, boisterous and stroppy.

We got him assessed by the nurse and sat down to wait for our turn. The emergency room started to fill up pretty quick while we waited. Lots of very sick and grizzly kiddies and equaly frazzled parents. We felt like a bit of a fraud amongst all this misery, as while there was lots of sad faces around us, our son was climbing chairs, chatting to various people and running around the play area at top speed with a massive grin on his face.

After two hours of waiting to see the doctor, Andrew was starting to get annoyed and if it hadnt been a head injury, he would have had us out of there. After a bit of a rev up at reception, we finally got in to see the doctor only to have them sit there and fill out an incident report and asessment for possible child abuse BEFORE they actually checked out his head. I could see Andrew start to get very upset and irate and sent him out to do Ethan a bottle while I hurried the paperwork up and got onto the important part of getting my sons injury looked at.

I totally understand and agree why doctors need to establish how any child would get hurt but is it too much to ask that they check your child to make sure that they are fine BEFORE trying to establish wether or not it was an accident?

By now it was 10.30, Ethan was getting tired and aggravated and wanted a shower, pjs, bottle, his blue pillows and purple mouse in his own bed at his own house. He was also getting upset at the endless lights being shone in his eyes, the rubber hammer that tests reflexes, the beep beep thingy that reads his pulse and heartbeat. But I have to say that he didnt wince once when they pressed on the lump that was thankfully decreasing in size.

Anyway they kept him for observation till 12.30 and now we are home. A very long and tiring night and Im not looking forward to daylight, when I have to be up preparing breaky and lunches, doing drop offs and handling two active pre schoolers and a toddler for the day.

The joys of parenthood :) Well gotta go and wake Ethan up and hopefully get a few zzzs.

To Gran, with love xxxxx

We got an email from Gran yesterday requesting some black and white photos of the children. So Gran, here they are, sent to you with tons and tons of love, hugs and kisses

Brat Attack!

I loved nothing more than dressing my baby son up and making him look more gorgeous than he usually does, chucking him in the car and cruising off to the mall, even if it was just to have a ice choccie and a bit of a wander round. He would love it too, sitting in his stroller and throwing out big smiles to all who would stop and say how cute he was and chuck him under the chin.

Sigh. Those were the days.

Now hes gotten older. And all thats changed.

Picture this. Ethan has figured out how to press the thingies together to release him from the restraints in his stroller. I didnt know this untill we were browsing in KMart the other day and I was sizing up some clothes for one of the other kids and, crash bang, this loud noise reverberates through the baby section, which was right next to where we were. I look in the stroller and my son is gone. With a bit of a curse, I head to where the noise came from and theres my son, amongst all the baby rattles and teats and bottles and wotnot that he had pulled down on top of him, with a big grin on his face. Red faced I start to clear up the mess all the while trying to figure out how the hell he escaped his stroller and apologising to the nice store DETECTIVE that had stopped to help. Mind you I bet he was just there to check for breakages that therefore needed to be paid for!!

Then once more securing Ethan in the stroller I left asap, moving onto the next shop. I became engrossed in looking at some house plants, but unknown to my child, kept one eye on the stroller. And then I realised how he had gotten out. The little rat was sitting there positioning his fingers on either side of the clip. Once done, he used his other hand to add strength to those fingers and sqeezed and yanked. He repeated this for the other side and, voila, he was free. Had to admire his ingenuity but it did pose a problem, one which his dad found a solution to once I told him of his sons escapades. By bending the clips a bit further outwards it made it harder for Ethan to squeeze and it caught when he yanked.

We dont even take him into the dairy when we stop in for milk etc anymore. We only do that in pairs. Ethan likes nothing more than running in, grabbing what he can and throwing them to the ground. Yesterday he took off while I was paying and ran between the small aisles, arms outstretched and sweeping what he could off the shelves.

He is definitely alot different than the other kids were at that age. Certainly teaching us alot more things thats for sure.

Our darling daughters

A day at Aussie World

Today as a late birthday treat for Maddisyn we packed up the car and family and took them up to the Sunshine Coast to Aussie World, a kiddies amusement park. It was very exciting for them and sort of for us, and they loved it. Liam went on the octopus and rollercoaster so many times that Im surprised he was able to walk from place to place. After a bit of a hesitant start, halfway through the day, Maddy got a bit more daring and went on alot of things that she wouldnt go near earlier on.
It was a lovely day, tho very warm, but Andrew and I were glad to get them in the car and make our way home as the sky started to darken. Now we are at home, with full tummys, clean children and looking forward to a lax night.
Here are a few photos

Kiddies and Dad