Category: week in review

Happy Easter! It’s been a busy long weekend; lots of catching up with old and new friends. Huff spent some of the week not feeling well; for one trip to school, she wanted to ride in the stroller, even though she’s really too big for it.

Puff had his Easter hat parade during the week, and then on Good Friday Dad and Puff went out on an adventure. We had lunch together, played chess, and bought a book for him, and one for Huff.

Sunday after church we went to have lunch with family, and there was someone doing face painting; Puff wanted to be a duck again.

Huff copied her cousin and had a face full of flowers.

She quite liked her cousin’s rabbit ears, too.

Oh, and Puff has a new loose tooth. It’s all happening!

There was a bit of a face-painting theme this week. Puff had a school event – Pirate Day – this week, and so Huff wanted to have her face painted. She decided she wanted to be Bottomley Potts from the Hairy Maclary series.

She wasn’t a fan of the white hairspray, and this face was a totally random capture, but she looks a bit worldly wise here.

Puff on the other hand wanted to be a parrot for pirate day. Mum did a great job on the face paint, and it was topped off with green hairspray.

Grandragon worked hard on the costume, so he had a stack of feathers stitched onto a hooded poncho.

Later in the week, Huff wanted her face painted again. This time it was flowers and the sun behind a cloud.

Huff wasn’t feeling well over the weekend, so while she said home and rested with Mum, Dad and Puff went out to have pizza for dinner. It was great to spend some time chatting with him on a range of topics (including his current game obsession – Duck Life 3, and some mixed numeral fractions among other things).

The next night, unexpectedly, Huff was still feeling a bit sick, so Puff and Dad went out again. It made the following night a bit odd when Dad was back to having lunch after the kids had gone to bed.

Huff was feeling better again by Monday, but we didn’t want to risk her getting her preschool friends sick, so she had the day home with Mum. She decided that making marshmallows for her (and Puff’s) friends for Easter would be fun. Here she is decorating them.

Looking forward to a pleasant Easter with the family – see you next week!

Another week: school photos this week on a non-preschool day, and so Huff and Puff walked up to school together. She still loves her rainbow skirt.

A bit of a quiet weekend compared to past weeks. 

Puff finished up school for the week, then sat down to work on his homework. Why is he in his swimming costume? He had a swimming school party to go to in the evening.

Huff tried to stay awake for the party, but missed most of the fun. She did well at her swimming, though.

So much so that we went for gelato afterwards. She was very happy about it (note Dad’s new glasses).

Mum and Puff were similarly happy. Puff was very proud of his epic eating efforts: two scoops of gelato by himself!

Then last night there was a fundraiser to go to with face painting. Huff asked for a flower.

Puff went all out (as usual with face painting) and asked for an angry bird.

There were a few other adventures (including a walk around town with their cousin) but wasn’t completely captured in photos.

See you next week! 

Another week has gone sailing past. Scrolling through iPhoto shows all the photos that don’t make it into the blog: there’s a sense of the bustle of life (or at least, that part of life where we’ve had the presence of mind to take photos) and disproportionately the happy moments. Memories of positive moments of connection, without the clutter of life’s banalities to block them out.

If you ever read the blog thinking that being a parent is a constant good time, it’s not. But the good moments are sublime, and the make up for a lot of the challenges.

To provide contrast with the moments of good parenting, here is a photo Dad took of Huff sitting on the couch, eating snacks and watching TV. Though she was happy with the show, you couldn’t tell by looking at her face.

On a more positive note, Huff met up with Aunty I and uncle C.

Huff still loves her sunglasses (she’s carrying the bag that they’re stored in, so she can put them away later).

Dad went with Huff so she could have her final injections (4yo). She was very brave.

Puff had a plush toy friend with him this week, so we had to stage a few photos. Here we are out at dinner as a family.

And here we were later in the weekend, waiting for yum cha.

See you next week!

A bit of a quiet week for photo taking – Dad was out most nights, catching up with people, and we had a weekend that involved some office moving, some family time, and a lot of spending time quietly at home where we could.

Nonetheless, Huff improved her climbing skills (though like Tigger, she was happier climbing up than climbing down).

The kids helped out by playing quietly after Dad’s office move until everything was sorted out.

Both kids had a great time taking turns to ride a mobility scooter – best toy ever.

And we managed to fit in lunch with Grandragon, with a lot of colouring in and playing on the nearby playground.

There was also a trip to Woonona to do some church visiting (an encouraging sermon on what to do when facing grief and loss), a visit to a market, and some cousin bonding.

Huff has regressed a bit in terms of sleeping through the night: she still comes in to Mum and Dad more nights than not at 4am asking to be tucked back in. Knowing that it’s going to stop someday soon, we’re trying to stay positive about it.

We’re still trying to find ways to keep Puff engaged away from screens; some books and activities work better than others.

We’re getting back to a normal pattern of weeks for the most part: On Friday, Dad was taking Puff to a pre-school music lesson, which was unexpectedly cancelled. So we went for coffee. It was good to have some time to share chats and see how he was going with school for the new year.

Mum had a similar opportunity with Huff.

The big news for the week, though, was Huff getting her “big girl” bed. Here she is, pretending to sleep so we can take a photo.

She was super excited in the lead-up to the bed being delivered, but managed to have a good night’s sleep (more or less) from the first night. We’ve now seen a transition from a 4am “Dad, can you tuck me back in?” to a 4am “Dad, can you come and watch me tuck myself back in?”

This rather odd picture was from the middle of dinner – Huff decided that by ducking her head under the table and lifting her arm up, she could make a “puppet show”.

Look how crowded the kids’ room is with three beds – Dad insisted on taking down the cot straight away. It’s the end of an era – we’ve had it, in one form or another, for six years!

Puff was on a bit of a time-out from screens over the weekend, which led to a bunch of other creative play, including getting excited about making paper planes.

Sunday we had lunch with Grandragon, Uncle J and Aunty C and cousin E; there was a nearby play centre, so the kids had the chance to play. Puff is starting to get too big for play centres! It’s bizarre to look at the different obstacles, and think back over the different stages where it was too much of a challenge, or just stretching enough, to now, when it’s easy. 

Starting to get back to normal this week: Mum still needing some extra rest, but definitely getting better.

Saturday Dad was trying to sneak out for a walk, but the kids were up all of a sudden, so we decided to go for a walk together. Huff lasted a few houses before taking a drink from her backpack. She held onto the apple for a few kilometres of walking, but not the backpack. Puff walked like a champion, as expected. We saw ducks, we walked all the way to a train station.

From there (after a bit of a wait at the platform) we caught a train one stop, which Huff was especially happy about.

Later in the weekend, while catching up with Grandragon, the kids went to Yogurberry: it’s still one of their favourite places to have dessert.

Mum made it back out to try some coffee, and we wanted to see Uncle J and C. Times have changed from when we only felt comfortable holding their hands when walking around. We’re still very strict about roads, but on the footpath, especially when we know the area, they are keen to explore a little.

Huff has actually taught us a lot about stopping to smellthe roses.

Huff has been a bit all over the place in her level of comfort around being dropped off for different groups that she’s in. Sometimes she’s happy to run and be a part of whatever it is, other times she’s really clingy, and doesn’t want to leave whoever is dropping her off.

We had something like that today with the preschool drop-off, and so we brought her out of preschool a little early today, and went for a babycino,

She’s very cuddly.

Even though she had a rest, she was back watching Puff have his swimming lesson, and cheering him on in her own way.

Oh, and Puff learned (from a school friend) how to go cross-eyed. He’s very proud of the new skill.

We were expecting this to be a quiet week leading in to celebrating Huff’s 4th birthday, and it was, until we had a surprise trip to hospital for Mum, who needed to stay overnight.

Big thanks to Aunty C and Uncle J for all their help, and to everyone who helped out by providing meals and other forms of help and encouragement.

The kids didn’t seem all that worried on the way through, and were relishing their extra screen time.

On Wednesday night, with Mum settled in to stay overnight, Dad took the kids home. There was some discussion about what they might like to eat for dinner (Puff wanted fast food, Huff wanted scrambled eggs. Puff really didn’t want scrambled eggs) and we eventually ended up eating Thai food. Dad managed to order about the right amount of food for everyone, and distract the kids by encouraging them to look at the men in the kitchen cooking stir fry by flipping the food out of big woks.

Aunty C organised some flowers for Mum that were from huff and Puff. Huff was very glad to be put in charge of carrying them when we brought Mum home again on Thursday.

On the weekend, it was Huff’s birthday. She was finally 4! Here she is wearing the birthday outfit that Grandragon made for her.

Dad and Puff went for a walk and threw some paper airplanes they had been folding, despite not having seen the currently released movie of the same name.

The next morning we had sprinkle-pancakes for breakfast. Huff was a big fan.

Dad took the kids to church, so that Mum could rest at home. The kids had a lot of fun – Huff went to Sunday School for the first time, all by herself, and came back and sat by herself in the kids talk (normally she asks Dad to sit with her). She’s growing up!

Sunday we visited Grandma and Doc, and Huff had some more candles to blow out. She had a lovely birthday weekend.

And then we were back to the normal routine of life again. Puff didn’t seem worried at all about the week’s adventures. Huff was a bit anxious about being separated from Dad on those few occasions during the week where that was necessary, but generally seemed fine.

It was a reminder of how fragile life is, but we’re very grateful that Mum is on the mend.

It’s the first week of school! Things are getting back to normal. Here’s an update on what the kids look like, for future reference. 

The kids were very patient with Dad wanting to take photos of them two days in a row.

Puff was looking forward to getting back to school (Dad may have said some go-to funny things to get this response).

He was at school maybe 2 minutes before showing off his tooth gap to his friends. It’s pretty spectacular (he’s worked out how it helps with drinking straws already).

Mum and Huff had some one-on-one time with a trip to a working bakery / cafe for pancakes.

And we managed a family breakfast out. Huff was content to eat her toast and egg.

Puff was excited that the toast with egg yolk looked like a toucan, and interrupted breakfast to show this off.

It should be noted that Dad and Puff caught the train to breakfast – due to track work this involved a 2km walk, then a train ride, and then a race up escalators and stairs that was much closer in result than anyone was expecting.

And then today Dad found himself in charge of school lunches: they look very different these days. No after shot is supplied, but they ate between half and 2/3rds of their lunch on the day. Not a bad innings.

Mum is adjusting to days with both kids away, though today was a fairly packed day. More details next week!