Bug = 3 years 6 months
Bub = 1 year 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 12 days – Linus at this age – Ada at this age

Saturday was pretty tiring and stressful for all of us. It wasn’t a bad day, but our family has had its rhythm established for a while now, and our new member has obviously changed that rhythm significantly (we now have NO rhythm!).

On Sunday, we decided we needed a reviving family day (i.e. a “How do we not kill each other?!” day), so we decided to take a picnic to Lawrence and come back via Lake Mahinerangi.

The trip was pleasant, and it’s always nice to get out of the house away from its endless jobs. The weather was unspectacular but fine, so we enjoyed stopping at the playground in Milton (great playground!), then at a rest area on the Gabriel’s Gully road in Lawrence for lunch.

We’d planned to stop somewhere at Lake Mahinerangi as well, but the bland weather, lack of any obvious lakeside scenic rest areas, and 2.5 sleeping kids (Linus was in zombie mode, i.e. about to fall asleep) meant we continued on our journey.

One of the greatest things about our new vehicle is that Linus and Ada are sitting in the back row. This means that when they start noisy babbling or singing or squeaking, they’re far less disruptive to any grown-up conversations happening in the front seats.

Bug = 3 years 6 months
Bub = 1 year 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 12 days – Linus at this age – Ada at this age

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t bathe my kids often. On Saturday, though, I decided that Linus and Ada were well overdue for a bath, and it would give us all a bit of fun at the end of a long day. It would also be a good opportunity to give Zoe her first bath.

Everything was going swimmingly: Linus and Ada were having fun playing with Zoe’s new squirty bath animals, and I was slowly stripping Zoe and waiting for the bath water to cool down to newborn temperature (36°C-38°C apparently – feels pretty cold to me!).

But as I was about to check the temperature again, I was dismayed (to put it mildly) to see that Ada had obviously relaxed too much: she’d done poos in the bath!

Bathtime was obviously cut short very quickly; we’ll have to wait for another opportunity to give Zoe her first bath.

Bug = 3 years 6 months
Bub = 1 year 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 11 days – Linus at this age – Ada at this age

While I was pregnant, Linus and Ada both know that my belly was “Bud”. Ada sometimes called it “baby”, but she probably didn’t really understand what that meant. Linus’s understanding of the whole baby and birth scenario was hopefully helped greatly by the fact that we must have borrowed every book on childbirth and new babies from the children’s section of the library over the past few months.

Linus occasionally made rather alarming suggestions about Bud ripping open my tummy to come out. I tried to convince him that would be rather painful for me, but he seemed pretty confident he could fix the damage. Ah, my little future surgeon (or serial killer)!

Linus and Ada both liked touching my pregnant tummy, and particularly enjoyed giving Bud raspberries – very cute! I’m very disappointed that Zoe’s early arrival meant that we didn’t have time to get photos of my big kids with my tummy as we’d intended

Bug = 3 years 6 months
Bub = 1 year 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 9 days – Linus at this age – Ada at this age

At teatime, out of nowhere, Linus started sniffing around in the air, looking around from the corner of his eyes. Then he spied meat on his plate and ate it. Apparently he was a dinosaur.

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Ada fell over the other day, so Linus came over and put his arm around her:

Linus: Are you OK, Ada?
Ada: Go away! (We’ve been teaching her to say “Stop” or “Go away” instead of grizzling when Linus is doing something she doesn’t like)
Linus: It’s OK, Ada… I’m one of your parents!

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(And from the “I can’t believe you blogged that, Mum!!!” files…) In Granny’s bed, Saturday morning:

Granny: Linus, do you need to go to the toilet?
Linus: No.
Granny: Then why are you wriggling?
Linus: I’m playing with my penis – and it’s getting bigger!

Bug = 3 years 6 months
Bub = 1 year 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 9 days – Linus at this age – Ada at this age

Almost as exciting as the new baby that last week brought us was the other new addition to the family – a new car!

Run out of Room

Until last week, our family car was a five-seater hatchback. If you do the maths, this would be big enough to fit our upsized family. Unfortunately a five-seater is not the same as a five-CARseater… fitting three carseats across the back would be impossible. The car has also started to get crowded in other ways recently: Ada enjoys kicking the back of the driver’s seat (not pleasant for the driver, in case you’re wondering), and Linus’s long legs are starting to get a bit squished up against the passenger seat.

Hence Bob and I have spent the past few months doing research on different models of people-movers and considering our finance options. At long last, after arranging finance and having a few test drives, we managed to buy a vehicle that suited us on the third weekend in August, and picked it up (thanks to a “my wife’s in labour” sob story from Bob!) that Monday even though the funds hadn’t cleared.

Our New Arrival

Our new pride and joy is a 2000 Honda Odyssey. It’s a seven-seater, although person #7 would have to be  skinny and happy with just a lap belt – I guess that will be Linus in another 5 or 6 years. The colour of the vehicle has been the subject of much discussion: it’s definitely dark, and definitely not black, but seems to change between dark blue and dark green every time you reach a decision on what colour it definitely is.

Until I was discharged from hospital yesterday, I’d had just one ride in it – the drive to hospital! – and hadn’t driven it, so one of the highlights of yesterday was taking my whole family out for a drive in the new car. Now we’re looking forward to a road trip - Bob’s already planning a day trip to Lawrence for us all.