Soooooooo many questions

I am having trouble keeping up with Joshua's questions. Here are a few from just today.

1. Where does the energy in my body come from?
2. Why does my heart pump?
3. Why does the blood go round my body?
4. What does my body do when i jump?
5. How do my muscles work?

Gosh where to start?!

Merry Christmas - when is the next one?

Merry Christmas!!!
We didn't get a chance to do Christmas cards for a couple of reasons (both 4 months old LOL) so for many of you this is the closest you will get to a Christmas card from us this year!! Sorry.
Joshua had a wonderful Christmas. We actually had to wake him at 7.30am as he was tired from going out to the Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. All 3 children were utterly spoiled rotten. Christmas lasts 2 days here as we go to the other Granny's on Boxing day so on the 27th Joshua was sitting eating breakfast and looked ponderously at me and asked "Is Christmas all over now?" "Yep" I answered. Joshua sat quietly for a few more minutes then asked....

"Mum, how many sleeps until Christmas? "

Photos

Xander shares a joke with Maia...


Maia gets the joke!




Joshua in action in his preschool play

Santaport

I love it now that Joshua is able to play with language and make new words etc.
We drove past a house decorated for Xmas. It was covered in lights and had all sorts of creatures on the lawn. We told Joshua to look as we drove by. He looked out the window and said "Wow look it is a Santaport" Grandma and i both paused as we thought about how cool it is that he came up with that when he piped up from the back "Santaport Mummy - you know like an airport but for Santa..." Hahahaha he thought we didn't get it - thanks for the clarification Joshua.

Oh no...my perfect world

Joshua was playing with Michelle and Natasha, and was pretending to put them in jail.
This is the conversation I overheard
Joshua: Get in jail Natasha
Natasha: Why? What did i do?
Joshua: You were a naughty animal
Natasha: i am not a naughty animal!! What did i do wrong?
Joshua: You ate my perfect world!
Natasha: .... (silence followed by fits of laughter)

Honestly where does he come up with this stuff!! Maybe he will be a script writer when he is older LOL

News News News

Long time no blog!!
It has been a busy busy month.
Xander had a bug at the end of November and ended up in Starship for observation for the evening. He was smiling at the Doctors by 1am so home we came. Unfortunately he was still a bit crook and threw up all over me as we walked in the door ... yay!! The following week he had another episode with fever and no sleep... but we think the problem was actually a reaction to Losec so no more losec for Xander!! (When in the hospital we found out that Xander is now a hefty 6.68kg)

Joshua turned 4!!!
Joshua had his 4th birthday party at McDonald's and had a wonderful time with all of his friends. He loved making his own ice cream!!

Joshua took part in his school play last Friday and actually stayed on stage this year LOL. It was a lovely play and Joshua made an excellent shepherd.

Xander rolled over!
On the morning of 9th of December (4 months 1 day exactly) Xander rolled from his back to his tummy. Not to be out done Maia rolled over that afternoon too!!

Maia rolled the other way!
Today Maia rolled from her tummy to her back and then back again!!. She made a fair amount of progress across the mat once she had worked out how to roll both ways. I think I better start baby proofing the house again sooner rather than later.

Weigh-in time

I took all three children to Plunket today and they had their check ups.

Maia - 5.23kg (11lb 8oz) - 57cm
Xander - 5.83kg (12lb 14oz) - 60.3cm
Joshua - 18kg (40lb) - 107cm

They are all growing well :o)

Did someone say goofy?

Goofy but cute

Xander is my baby!!

We took Maia off her losec for a few days to see if she still needed it. Hmmm let's just say it is an experiment we won't recreate in a hurry!! Joshua obviously felt the same way ....

"Xander is my baby but you can have Maia, Mummy."

He had a similar conversation with Grandma and once again it was Maia on offer. Poor little Minx.

Daft Questions/Comments

Maia and Xander are doing well. I am finally managing to get out of the house more often which means I talk to strangers about the twins at least half a dozen times a day. Most attention is lovely but I have to say people ask the daftest questions or say the daftest things.

Q. Are they identical?
A. Umm no the one in pink is a girl and the one in blue is a boy
(some people still looked puzzled after this response!!)

Maia is in pink and Xander in blue and a fellow looks in the pram and says
Q. Two boys then?
A. Umm no the one in pink is a girl
(sad thing is this was not a once off. I have been asked the same question a number of times. Really is there any out there who dresses a baby boy in pink? Come on...)

Q. How do you cope?
A. (Thinks: ummm do I have a choice?) It is not as bad as you think
(to which a number of people say "rather you than me" Gosh people are so positive...NOT)

Q. Are they natural
A. (Thinks: it is none of your business) I smile sweetly and pretend I didn't hear the question

Q. Ohh one of each. How clever - now you don't need any more children
A. Ummm apart from the 3yr old son i already have who is standing just over there.
(So glad Joshua was not in earshot for that comment)

And then there is the icebreaker "Double Trouble" I know people are just trying to make conversation when they say this but even so I always laugh and say "no twice blessed" or "double the fun"

The funniest question yet though has to be the Chinese lady at the mall who asked me if i was breastfeeding by using sign language as she doesn't speak English. LOL.

Old bones

Do you have old bones or new bones....?

Think about this very carefully before you answer!! This is the latest question Joshua is asking after Grandma was silly enough to tell him that she is shrinking. He is now working flat out in his experiment room (no it is NOT a lab according to Joshua) trying to formulate a cure to stop Grandma shrinking and to kill the old bones and make new ones. Please nobody else share their tales of shrinking or illness with Joshua for a while as Grandma shrinking is playing quite heavily on his mind and comes up in conversation a couple of times a day. I am not sure I could handle it if he were working on any other cures at the moment :o)

Halloween anybody?

The English language is not logical and if logic is applied it can be very entertaining. Joshua being not yet 4 applies a unique preschooler logic to the language....

We were discussing Halloween and I said that Michelle was going to wear a sailor's outfit for her Halloween costume. Joshua got quite annoyed and said "it is not your Halloween Chelle, it is MY Halloween" I then pointed out that it was "everybody's halloween" Joshua still wouldn't let it lie and said "no it is not everybody's halloween. It is onebody's Halloween" Silently laughing at his unique twist to the language I restated that it was for everybody. Joshua responded "Ok maybe it is for twobody's"

Go to bed!!

So far Joshua has really been very tolerant of the new babies that have invaded his world but yesterday afternoon when they were being really quite fussy the cracks began to show. Joshua had obviously had enough of the twins commanding my attention and said "I want the babies to go to bed NOW Mummy!!" If only it were that easy ...sigh

Despite this when daddy got home and was dealing with Xander Joshua gave him a kiss and said "I love my babies" Awwww

Today I took Maia to preschool to pick Joshua up and left Xander having a bottle with Grandma. (Maia was being a troublemaker and refusing to settle for more than 10min at a time all day so i wasn't about to leave her with Mum while Xander was up as well - I am not that mean) The teachers were thrilled that Maia was awake so she got passed around for cuddles - honestly you would never have thought that she was being a cross patch today as she snuggled into their arms and made doe eyes at everyone!! But at one point Joshua lost track of who had the baby and came rushing over all worried and said "Where is MY baby?" So cute. It is nice that he is showing such brotherly concern.

Too cute...

Maia looking cute in her hat from Aunty Sarah

Little Fatties!!

Maia and Xander love their food!! Plunket came to visit last week and they have grown really well.

Xander - 4.99kg (11lbs)
Maia - 4.38kg (9lb 10oz)

They are smiling more and starting to make some interesting noises (Xander squeals every now and then) They are both hitting and kicking toys on the play mat, and will also grab their dummies and hiff them away (they are not always keen on the dummy!!)





They are also paying more attention to one another. Maia is still obsessed with trying to eat her brother and Xander cries if Maia takes his place in Grandma's arms (he may be the jealous type LOL)

Joshua is still being a fantastic big brother although he did try to stop Xander crying tonight by putting his hand over his face.... uh oh !!

Sticks, funny names and smiles

Joshua is obsessed by sticks!! My Mum says if she is still around for his 21st she will give him a stick!! Joshua is deprived you see as I refuse to buy him a toy gun so instead every stick he sees is a weapon!! (he is even collecting them at preschool and i am finding bits of stick all around the house) Sticks make wonderful guns to blast stuff with LOL. Yesterday though Joshua asked Grandma to break a piece off his latest stick and the whole thing broke into pieces.. oh dear this caused a mega meltdown and I had to go down to Grandma's to pick him up and sort him out. Grandma had tried to offer him another stick from the hundreds on Grandad's wood pile but she was told "they are not the right length" Fussy little toad!!



Brian was on the phone today to my old boss and Joshua asked him who he was talking to. Brian told him it was Dennis. Joshua said in a VERY loud voice "Dennis? That's a funny name. Ah ha ha ha ha" Dennis heard him but luckily saw the funny side. The biggest laugh is ... any guesses on what Joshua's middle name is!!

Xander and Maia are doing well. They are feeding at 10pm, 2am and 6am (ish) now so we don't feel quite so sleep deprived. Mum was up this evening and helped me bath the babies. After Xander had had his bath and a massage with calendula oil he smelt lovely. Mum was taking him
back to the lounge and I stopped them as they went by and sniffed his head and said "ohhh you smell nice' and stroked his head. Well he gave us the biggest smile we have seen yet!! It was amazing. His face just beamed. I felt all warm and mushy LOL.

I have an idea!!

Pirate Joshua shared his bath with Xander for the first time tonight. Big brother Joshua asked if Xander needed his hair washed and when I said yes he kindly offered to assist.
His bright idea?!

... he whipped out his water pistol and kindly soaked Xander's head for me....

Such a HELPFUL big brother!!

Be Gentle

Maia and Xander went to see Dr Mules last week for a check up. When Dr Mules was checking Maia she started to fuss and Joshua rushed over to check on her and said "Dr Mules, you have to be very gentle with the babies" in a very stern voice. Haha I wonder where he learnt that from. Then when Maia fussed some more he said "Dr Mules, you know what?" "Babies cry alot, eat alot and sleep alot!!" The doctor was having a good chuckle at this stage. Then Joshua said "Dr Mules I have a question for you" but it wasn't so much a question as a statement... "Mummy went to hospital.. and you cut her tummy open!!" Dr Mules was laughing by now and said "oh no you can't blame that one on me!! I was there but I didn't do the surgery" It was a very amusing visit!!

The Plunket nurse came today and weighed the babies:

Xander: 4.04kg (8lb 14oz)
Maia: 3.67kg (8lb 1oz)

Maia has a cute little double chin now and Xander is getting nice rolls on his legs.

1 month old!!

Maia and Xander are 1 month old today!!

The midwife came to visit and was very happy with their growth etc.

Maia = 3.43kg (7lb 9oz)
Xander = 3.84kg (8lb 8oz)

They are starting to fill out a bit :o)

I can't quite reach....

Maia trying her hardest to get Xander's fingers

Poor Xander!! Whenever his sister comes near she looks for his fingers to have a chew!! Just as well they don't sleep in the same cot as i think Xander's fingers would soon become Maia's pacifier.

Tummy time

Maia and Xander enjoy some tummy time together

More cuddles

Joshua enjoys a cuddle with Xander but Xander seems a bit unsure ....

Poser

Maia and Xander got some cute outfits in a parcel from Uncle Graham and Aunty Colleen today. Mum thought she would show Maia what to do with the pockets and then Maia wouldn't take her hands out for the next 5 mins ... very cute!!

Golf anyone?

Joshua tries on a new outfit from Aunty Daisy and Aunty Gladys in Canada.

Yum fingers!!

Maia samples Xander's fingers.

Another Maia cuddle

Joshua and Maia have cuddles

Happy Due Date!!

Today is Xander and Maia's official due date. Which means they are now 3 weeks old. I am not sure where the last 3 weeks have gone though as we have all been quite ill. Joshua had the flu when we came home from the hospital and then Brian and I caught it. It was a nasty bug and knocked us all for six. Thankfully the babies stayed well!! The twins are now exclusively bottle fed as I couldn't recover from the flu and keep feeding and remain sane LOL!! Maia is still a guts and will choke herself in her rush to eat. Xander on the other hand seems to find eating a bit of a bore and will stuff around a fair bit - I never knew a baby could suck on a bottle for 10mins and not drink anything at all until I had Xander!!

The midwife visited today and weighed them both:
Xander = 3420grm (7lb 8oz)
Maia = 3130grm (6lb 14oz)

They are both growing well and their eyes are starting to focus. Soon they will be able to see their big brother Joshua and start learning all his tricks.

I'm a BIG brother now!!

Joshua helping Mummy and Daddy get ready to leave the hospital. His smile tells it all

Joshua is a very proud big brother and has impressed Brian and I with how well he is sharing his home and heart with these 2 two new little green things. On the first day home he gave both Maia and Xander turns cuddling his most precious possession "blue dog" He has been so loving and helpful. We are very proud of our big boy.

Awwwwwwww

Maia enjoys cuddles with Daddy!!

3 Hours

We are home now, and now the fun starts...

3 Hours, well that's how much sleep we got last night, Maryann's mum came to help us this morning, and my mum will be helping this afternoon.

---

Xander

So far he's pretty laid back, mellow and easy going, likes his cuddles.

---

Maia

Maia on the other hand is quite feisty and alert.

---

Back to the family now, enough time of this sitting down stuff.

Happy Birthday Maia and Xander

Xander and Maia arrived at 1:45pm today.









Xander 3.2 Kg
Maia 2.6Kg

Baby's doing well, Mum is recovering, Joshua is a official Big Brother now and Dad is in a mild state of shock.

More details to come...

My Daddy

We were at Grandma's this afternoon and Natasha decided to snuggle up to her Uncle Brian. Joshua looked up from eating his bar and saw Natasha cuddling up to Daddy and quite literally exploded. "No, Natasha. He is my Daddy, Not your Daddy. Move away. He is MY Daddy" Not one of us could keep a straight face. Oh boy what are we in for when the babies arrive?!

Warning : Contains stretch marks!! View with caution

Hi all. Here are a couple of shots of my twin pack at exactly 35 weeks. Not sure how much further my skin can stretch!!

Funny Voice

Brian, Joshua and Grandma were having a discussion about who is related to who. Joshua pointed to Grandma and said to Daddy "Who is this?" Brian said "She is your Mummy's Mum" and Joshua replied "Yes, that's right and she is my Grandma.... and she has a funny voice!!!" Ha ha ha. Mum certainly has an accent alright but I am not sure she appreciated it being described as a funny voice. Then after we all stopped laughing Joshua said "Yes and I have Grandma's voice in me" Joshua does pronounce some of his words like a true Scotsman so he is right on both counts. Grandma does have a funny voice and so does he sometimes..... soooo cute

My Favourite Food

At Grandma's we had a discussion about our favourite foods. Grandma asked Joshua what his favourite food is, to which he quickly responded "Nanas" (Yes, believe it or not Joshua can say cantilever perfectly but calls bananas "nanas".) Then Grandma said "I wonder what your Mummy's favourite food is?" Joshua quick as a flash piped up "Complan" LOL I know I have been drinking complan a lot lately but I didn't realise it was my favourite food!!

I'm a big boy now - hmmmm well maybe not!!

Joshua told us he was going to stay over at Aunty Julie's with the girls because he "is a big boy now" Well since it was his idea we went along with it and Julie picked him up yesterday afternoon. Dinner went well, the bath went well, stories went well... he even said to Aunty Julie "I am a big boy now so I can stay" but alas come bedtime Joshua decided he was not quite big enough.
"... I need my Daddy... Daddy needs to come and pick me up now"
Not wanting to force the issue Brian went and picked him up. When Brian arrived Joshua said "Daddy my tummy didn't feel right" Awwwwwwwwww he missed us. We said he could try again when he is older and Joshua agreed saying "Yeah I'm not big enough yet"

Cover that belly button...

Today Joshua found my Mum's makeup remover pads. Grandma and Joshua discussed the finer details of what the pads could be used for and then he wandered over to where I was sitting with belly exposed and popped one on my belly button saying "you need one to cover your belly button cause it frightens me!" LOL It frightens me too.

But honestly how can this creature find my non-existent belly button scary?

Joshua and the belly

Here is Joshua getting up close to the twins. He likes the idea that the babies can hear him talking now... another excuse to talk constantly.

Twin Pack!!

Here is a shot of the belly. I am 31 weeks 4 days in this shot. I think the black top makes me look smaller than I really am!!

Joshua and Kitty get cuddly

I love this shot of kitty and Joshua!! Joshua is usually chasing her around the house so it is nice to see them call a truce and have a snuggle.

Cantilever

Today Joshua woke up and came into our bed for a snuggle. He was in our bed for about 2mins when he suddenly said "Mummy guess what? I have a good idea"
"Really what is your good idea Joshua?" I asked.
"Today we are going to make a cantilever!!" he replied enthusiastically.
After I got over the shock of my 3.5yr old telling me that he wanted to make a cantilever, I agreed that it would be a fun thing to do. (The cantilever idea comes from an awesome Curious George site on PBS kids where they explore science and do different activities... I guess Mummy never realised how much Joshua was taking in when he watched the videos on this site!!) So anyway we made a cantilever together and the result was great if not a little saggy.

One of each

Well it turns out that Joshua was right he is getting a baby brother and sister. The babies are growing well and my tummy is huge (no... I am not exaggerating... it really is huge) I am counting down the weeks until the babies arrive and I can have my body back :o) I am not the glowing pregnant woman type!!

Joshua has become really independent and can dress himself now and likes doing favours for Mummy (fetching things and picking things up off the floor so I don't have to bend) He even took pity on me last week (I must have looked pitiful) and said "i'll help you get dressed Mummy" and proceeded to put my socks on for me. Our roles are reversing already and he is only 3 and a half...HELP!!

Only a couple of months of incubating left until the twins arrive though and then it will be all go at the Green house. Will try to update more frequently from now on.

Grapes for girls /Pumpkins for boys

Long time no blog. I am still feeling pretty pukey and find it hard to sit at the computer for long so sadly Joshua's blog has been neglected. I guess it is time to give an update.

We found out on Friday that Twin 1 is a boy so Joshua will have a baby brother. However Twin 2 is a bit smaller and the Doc couldn't tell so we will go back in 3 weeks to check growth and see if we can find out if it is a she or a he.

Joshua has been told that one baby is a boy but that we aren't sure about the other. Anyway today we were doing the food shopping and Joshua asked us to buy a pumpkin. We we put it in the trolley next to him he patted it and said "this will help my baby brother grow big and strong". Very cute....

Then later in the day when Joshua and I were lazing on my bed eating grapes he picked one up and said "these will help my baby sister grow big"
So I guess Joshua thinks Twin 2 is a girl. (I do but we will have to wait and see........)

James the Ball

Joshua has a baby, well a ball in a little pull along thing that he is calling his baby.

Yesterday he took "James" to the toilet to change his nappy, he took off the nappy, held "James" over the toilet and wiped his bottom. Maryann then suggested to Joshua to put some trousers on "James"... To which he responded.

"No Mummy, it's just a ball"

GreenThing MarkII x 2

Long time between updates again, but it's all for a good reason.
Our next one has just turned into 2, twins, so we are busy trying to get to grips with the whole idea of 2.
Brian will be updating the Blog from time to time as I usually spend alot of my free time sleeping now.

Joshua's job

Yesterday Brian was trying to explain to Joshua that you can't win all the time and that someone has to lose. Joshua raised his finger knowingly and told his Dad .." But it is my job to win" How can you argue with that?

Happy Belated New Year

Happy New Year...
Sorry for the lapse in posting but Little Green Thing Mark II is in production and making me very ill. This is the first evening in the past couple of months that I have felt well enough to actually string a sentence together. yay for "all day sickness" bleh.

Joshua is well. He doesn't seem to mind Mummy dashing off to throw up regularly throughout the day. He even gets my bowl for me and asks if I am going to spit in it. He says I have the "tummy yuckies" and gives me lots of cuddles to help me feel better. He doesn't know why Mummy is being sick though as we are planning on waiting a while before telling him... just in case.

He starts back at preschool next week and we both can't wait. His holidays have been pretty quiet apart from the many days that we borrowed the girls. (Not sure how I would have survived the past 10 weeks without Joshua's marvellous cousins).

Joshua still lives in a largely imaginery world. He made his Dad help him throw a "Scary Machine" out the window today. He said bubbles came out of the machne and then Scarys would jump out of the bubbles and say "arggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh" Definitely not the sort of machine you want in the house!

Hope to post again soon...