Good things take time

Jan 1982...it all starts here

I have lived three decades now....my, how I have grown.
Life is good...in fact, I believe that decade number 4 is going to be my most wonderful decade yet.
 I have a loving husband, 3 precious children, a God who I grow closer to every day, I am surrounded by the most amazing family and friends - genuine, caring, trustworthy and thoughtful blessings in my life that they all are.

Check out my mum - 21 with a newborn Nikki!

I am happy, I am content, I praise God for 30 wonderful years....and say with joy: "bring on the next!!!!"

1 year old...

1987....5 years old

3 years old and pretty cute huh?

  

Angel at 2

7 years old...1989

    

My 12th Birthday

THAT perm!  16 years old (cringe)

Me on my 13th birthday...very trendy - not!!!

At my 7th form school ball.  1999

14 years old with my mummy

My 21st...the day before our wedding

Marty's favourite stage....and when he met me!  19 years

Our first photo together..I was just about 20 here and in Scotland

1st Feb 2003...21 years old...

2004..enjoying married life

Our Miracle Jaimee...2006

Kate's dedication - 2008 (with the Winters Family)

2010

...and this is me now.  

...What a great journey it has been so far!

Toilet Conversations

I just had to record this conversation, because it is the perfect example of what your life becomes when you live with a 3 and 5 year old child.

Kate calling out from the bathroom: "Someone, come quick, there's too much poos!"

I come running, not quite sure what I will be faced with when I turn the corner after that sentence.

Kate is sitting on the toilet.  Nothing seems amiss (a mess)...whew!

Me:"What's the problem Kate?"

Kate: "There's too much poos"

Me: "So wipe your bottom" (duh)

Kate: "(mid strain)I can't....they're still coming"

Me: "Ok, so wait until you have finished all your poos, and then wipe your bottom"

At this point Jaimee comes and joins the party at the toilet.  "Can I see?" she asks helpfully.

Kate: "Yep, see, there's too much poos eh?

Jaimee: "(peering behind her into the toilet)oh yeah...there is!"

The girls break into hysterical giggles and I walk away rolling my eyes.



Ahh....life with preschoolers! So fun!

Gymnastics Prodigy?

Before I start this story, you need a bit of background to it.  Before Jaimee was diagnosed with Hip 

Dysplasia, she loved doing tumbling tots (a preschool gymnastics class) every week.  At 3, this was the highlight of her week, and she was great at it - she balanced on the beam without looking at her feet, arms held out perfectly.  She hung upside down on the rings for ages, straight as a pencil.  She jumped off the high squabs with ease (we were all amazed that her hips could withstand all this without pain after we found out they were completely out of their sockets!), and we were all gutted when she had to stop for her surgery, 5 months in full body cast and then her long recovery road.  

In February last year, Jaimee was given the nod by her surgeon to continue life as normal.  Her hips were healing so well, he felt confident to leave her next check up until 2013.  YAY!  Jaimee had been itching to get back to gymnastics, so we popped her name on the (loooonnngggg) waiting list and waited.   

Today we finally were asked to come along to an open day at Hastings Gymnastics Club so that the coaches could get to see her in action and she could have a go.  Jaimee, Kate and I were very excited about this..I never did any extra-curricula activity (besides swimming lessons) as a child/youth.   Well, I did have one short horrid ballet experience at 5, resulting in mum pulling me out  because the teacher was horrible and yelled at me.  As I got older, books kept me happy enough as well as looking after all the little kids in my neighbourhood!

Anyway, back to Jaimee.  She loved it, and had a go at everything.  I ran into a mum there with her daughter that I used to teach as a baby, and was able to ask her lots of questions, as they had been doing gymnastics for a year already.  Her daughter had been invited to do competitions, and I asked about what this involved.  "It's pretty intense - 2 hours once or twice a week, sometimes up to 4 times a week during comp session"  My eyebrow shot up, and I timidly asked about the expense "Yeah, its kind of expensive, there are fees for the term plus the competition entry fees, the costumes, the trips to Gisborne....".  Ok, well that is that.  My daughter will not be doing competitive gymnastics.  She can still get badges and progress in the 'kiwi gym' class, that will be enough for her.  I never did any sports or anything, and I turned out OK.  She doesn't need all that stuff.  I guess I have no prior knowledge to go on in this area, and one of the reasons that I am nervous about Kate wanting to do  dance when she turns 5  is because I know that there are intense practices and costumes at production time.  SO not excited about this idea of so much practice, for goodness sake, let kids be kids!

About 5 minutes after this conversation, one of the coaches walked over to me after watching Jaimee on the beam.  "Ok, so I think your daughter has a real natural gymnastics skill, we could really make something of her.  I need the head coach to look at her, but I think we may have something here" he said with a very serious face.  Okay.  All previous thoughts were reduced to muck as I listened to this coach tell me how talented my daughter was.  There is nothing so wonderful for a parent as having other adults see the potential in your child.  It almost totally squashed my hesitations with one bit of praise.  How pathetic is that?!

Although every ounce of my proud-mother-state now wanted to agree with him to enroll her for 'pre-competition' classes right away (2 hours instead of the 1 hour, more skill focused class), I swallowed my desire to scream "YES, sign her up for the Olympics right now" and tried to be sensible.  I explained that she has limited hip rotation, that I have just quit one of my jobs and that I was not sure we wanted to do competitive gym just yet.

The head coach works with Jaimee

Soon after, I noticed the coach  in conference with another coach as they watched Jaimee.    He introduced me to the head coach, who was very impressed with Jaimee's natural movement on the beam and her effortless upper body strength.  I explained that she after 5 months in a full body cast, she had no choice but to learn to use her arms a lot!  After more handstands, cartwheels, somersaults, bar and beam work (and a lot more talk about my hesitations about competitions), we agreed that for now the best thing would be to start her off in a normal kiwi gym class to stretch out her hip muscles and see how she copes, but that the coaches would keep an eye on her with an intention to move her to pre-comp classes.   The kiwi gym will be awesome, because they can earn badges and progress that way so I don't think that she needs to do competitive gym to feel like she is achieving.

But I admit, as a parent, it was a bit of a pride buzz to see the coaches give Jaimee so much attention and get excited about working with her!   We all like to think our children have skill somewhere, but it is so fun to hear other adult (and those who don't even know her) agree with you for a change! So I decided we can just take it one step at a time and see what happens, and as long as Jaimee is having fun it is all good. Yes, I know, I am so weak!

Foam pit fun with Seth and Ella

They did ask if there was anything that the coaches weren't allowed to push Jaimee to do, but I assured them that as long as it didn't hurt her, stretching her muscles would be good for her.  They have assured me that pre-comp classes doesn't mean competitions straight away (my mind was whirling with dollar signs at this point) and that Jaimee really had a very natural ability (well duh) and that she seemed naturally competitive by nature.  Hmm, I don't know about that one...I did warn them that if by competitive, they mean "cries-and-gives-up-if-she-can't-do-it-perfect-the-first-time", then yep, that is Jaimee!

Of course, at the end of the morning, the most fun that the kids had was getting swallowed up by the foam cubes in the foam pit that surrounds the tramp! They loved jumping in, lots of giggles with their friends Seth and Ella were had in the pit!  I had to pull Jaimee out at one point, she got stuck up to her armpits and couldn't get out.  Hehehe.  Kids will be kids!

It was so much fun, Anne-Marie (Ella's mum) and I both agreed that we secretly wished we could enroll and relive our childhood gymnastic dreams!

SPLASH Planet!

After 9 years of living in Hastings, we FINALLY went to Splash Planet (water theme park) today!!! 

 A bunch of us mums from Jaimee's class organised the trip before school ended last year as something fun to do in the school holidays...its about time we went, so it was nice to have a date to look forward to.  I managed to get half price tickets (thanks to residents rate - and Shelley for loaning me her club card), and Kate scrapped in for free as she doesn't turn 4 for another month, so the whole day cost us $35!   

The pirate pool was so cool for kids!

Shelley gave us the most vital tip of the trip - to get our tickets a few days early so that we don't have to queue...BEST TIP EVER!!! Our poor friends were in line for about an hour, and we hear that people were queuing from 9am....but we arrived at opening time and still walked straight in when the doors opened through the prepaid line!   

We had a blast - the kids loved the pirate play area in a pool perfect depth for them (although Kate lost a bit of confidence after a bad landing from the water slide where she went underwater much to her shock).  The toddler splash pad was awesome - and not half as crowded as you would think it would be! I much preferred it to the one at Cornwall Park, which the big kids always take over.  The 'endless river' was so much fun, we went as a family (so no photos sorry), taking Luke in his baby float seat and Kate in her hippo inflatable ring.  You just lie on these big squabs and float lazily as a current drags you around the complex....it was lovely for all of us together.  Kate did 2 laps before she was ready to get out, but Marty took Jaimee and Luke around for 3 laps!!! Luke giggled the entire trip, after simply raising his eyebrows when we popped him in the cold water for the first time in his life!  Typical cruiser Luke.  

Swinging in water - great idea!

On the train ride with Laura (from Jaimee's class)

Splash Planet!

 I was keen to have a go on the slides, and had done my research - there was only one slide that I could take the kids on with me, so off the to 'Double Dipper" we went (The swirly slide in this photo).  You ride down on figure 8 inner tubes, sounded like lots of fun.  I used my best mummy skills to secure myself a 'double' tube for 2 people after failing by simple standing waiting nicely on the side of the pool.  I waded into the water, approaching some adults who had just come down on a double tube, and asked them if I could please have their tube as I was taking a child down and couldn't use a single tube.  They kindly gave it up.  Success!  Jaimee happily climbed to the top of the tower with me, and hopped on board at the top of the slide with confidence.  About 2 seconds into the ride (and the only way off is now to finish the ride) she burst into tears and cried the entire slide down, with me saying extra-enthusiastically in her ear "ooohh, look Jaimee, its so fun! wheee!" through her wails.  Ah well, I tried!  She sat on the sidelines with a friend while I went back (on a single tube this time!) for more because it actually was heaps of fun!  Anne-Marie encouraged me to do some of the other slides with her, so we giggled like the zillions of teenagers around us as we slide down a pitch black tunnel (very odd feeling indeed) and another open air slide (kind of felt like I was going to slip off the side as the water goes around each bend).  The kids cheered me on with Marty from the bottom.

Tiny Town Fun!

 After a quick dip in the very slightly warmer indoor pool (Luke LOVED it), we had some lunch and then decided to explore the rest of the park.  The kids loved Tiny Town, where the rode through bright buildings together.

Ella and Jaimee ride the merry-go-round

Lunch with friends

There was still SO much to do - the kids rode the merry-go-round (not exactly thrilling with tinny Hi-5 playing as they rode around at about 1km an hour with all us bored parents watching) before we introduced them to putt-putt. It was packed, so there was no time to muck around showing them how to play properly.  Putt-putt with my kids turned into a kind of hockey/sweeping the floor/curling kind of game, with plenty of cheating and starting 'after the hard bit' in order to get through the ordeal.  I gave up after 3 holes and left Marty and his friend Geremy to cope with their 3 girls while I chatted with the other mums on the sidelines.  They did very well, and had almost finished when I came waltzing back into the scene and totally ruined it by trying to give Jaimee some tips.  She screamed at me.  Literally!  She opened her mouth, stared at me and let out a high-pitched scream. How rude, I was only trying to help.  I took her off for a reminder about self-control (our latest 'faithbox' topic) and then we regrouped and explored the rest of the park.

 The flying fox was very popular, the girls would have stayed there for the rest of the afternoon if we had let them - they went 3 times each.  It was funny watching their stopping methods - just stay on until they are scooting along the barked ground flat on their bums!

They also enjoyed the rocket slide, a leftover from the fantasyland days of the park which is tucked quietly away in a corner.  The slide is a basic concrete tunnel set into a hill, but it has some real speed on it and even Luke had a go!    

Still chilled out after 7 hours and only about 20 mins sleep!

Luke rides the rocket slide!

 We didn't leave the park until 5pm - it closes at 5.30pm, so we did the whole day and never got bored.  Next time we would do the 'dry' rides first, because by the time we wandered over to them the queues were far too long for our kids to wait in, so we never got a go on the bumper boats, go karts or jungle jeeps.  The water is cold, so leaving it until later in the day would be better for my kids, who were shivering and cold after an hour in the water at 10am!  The good news is that there will be a next time, we are sold on Splash Planet!

The Splash Pad

Heels to playgroup

This morning I decided to wear a dress - it's summer and I was off to work, so why not?  I don't wear dresses every day, and I haven't pulled this one out for a while...but I do normally make a bit of effort to look nice, especially when it is a 'church' day.

After flipping through my (very limited) collection, I decided on this funky one that mum picked out for me when she was in Scotland last - she is really good at picking me dresses and hasn't got my size wrong yet!

I didn't think anything of my choice, until I got out of the car at Rascals to drop off Kate.  First clue that normal people don't wear dresses and heels to work was Dave's reaction (Kates teacher): "WOW - awesome dress!! My wife would love that!".  (When I returned to pick Kate up, he nervously asked me if he could take a photo to show his wife!  I burst out laughing and submitted!)

Moving on to the baby house, where I work on Mondays.  Clue number 2 was found in the stares and in Shelley's reaction:  "NIKKI - You look BEAUTIFUL....where are you going?"  

"Umm....to work.....to run the playgroup" I replied with a sheepish grin.  All the Rascals teachers nearby cracked up laughing.  Rhondda even requested a blog about my dress please (here it is!) 

Yes, I am wearing a beautiful dress and high heels to playgroup.  In hindsight, perhaps 

not normal mummy-wear!!  

Heels are normal - aren't they?!

Seriously though, I just like to look nice!  When I became a mummy, I decided that I would always make an effort - I didn't want to become a slob just because I was a mummy.  So I chucked out all my trackies (only one pair of yoga pants for exercise made the cut) and basically anything that I would be embarrassed to be seen in.  I confess...I wear foundation and lipstick every day, even if I have no plans.  You know that I am having an 'extreme blob' day if I have my glasses on and no earrings in. Looking pretty gives me confidence, it helps me feel prepared for the day, and, let's be honest - it makes Marty happy!

I was asked if I would change when I get home.  Nope...in fact, I often totally forget that I am wearing heels and end up in them all day long.  And I have been spotted doing the gardening in a nice top, trousers and boots!

Rounding up the rabbits in heels.  That is normal!

Oh, but you need to know that I don't generally look in a mirror once I am sorted for the day.  My hair and makeup lose their lusture by about lunchtime, but that's ok.  I gotta have some 'normal' behaviour to counteract heels to playgroup I guess!!

In the middle of writing this, my neighbour popped over to grab some lemons and she complimented me on my beautiful dress.  (SEE - people DO pop, this is why I make an effort!).

Well, must go...Marty just got home.  He looked at me, looked again and said "You're looking a bit hot...what's going on?!".   I laughed and told him to read this post!

Hanging with cousins

We were all very pleased that Aunty Shona had the week off work and was able to bring their cousins out for a play (and a much needed catch up for us mummys!).

What's this? More sand? GREAT!

We headed out to one of the best spots in the Bay for little ones - the "Hot Chick" beach.  Sand, water, a huge playground AND icecream - you can't get much better then that!  The girls adore their cousins, they have really grown up spending a lot of time with each other at Granma's house - the only problem with this is that sometimes they act more like siblings then cousins, and can bicker...but not today! They were far too busy enjoying the perfect day to do any of that.

Brianna and Jaimee build castles

Kate and Jakob jump over waves

The ultimate summer playtime

ICECREAM!!!

Hanging with cousin Brianna

My monkeys show off their skills

I needed a bath after this!

The kids were all on their best behaviour and Shona and I were able to sit back and watch them enjoying the beach and each other.  We chatted in the sun while Luke ate numerous fistfuls of sand....every time I turned him back to the blanket, he promptly turned himself back around again and started eating it!  I had to wash his mouth out using my water bottle which he was quite surprised at - having cold water squirted over his face (I know, I am so mean!).  There was sand everywhere when we got home, I had to give him a bath!

 

Warming up in the hot sand after a play

On the way home, the girls and I were able to have a good chat about how to deal with friends who say/do mean things.  Apparently a cousin had laughed at them at some moment during their play, it was nothing horrible but I have learnt to grab these opportunities when they arise, and use them as 'faith sharing' moments...so we had a big talk about love and kindness (following on from our faith box time last week) and how we need to not let these things bother us because God/mummy/daddy loves us and thinks we are special and that's all that matters at the end of the day.  We also talked about how we need to show God's love and kindness no matter what others say/do.  Jaimee piped up with a good point from a previous discussion: "mummy, a friend might not of had enough sleep and be having a bad day eh?"...excellent, some of what I tell them does go in!

All in all, a great day.