Free surfing lesson

Parent to Parent organized a Sibling Day today - surf lessons. Brendon took them to the beach and took photos for me. :-)

First the instructions on dry ground.

Then into the water to try it out.

It was a bit tricky for Brendon to spot Rachel as they all had the same tops on. Ruth was easy enough to spot. ;-)

And Hannah was easy to spot too because she stayed in the very shallow water to start as she was very scared.

She ended up doing so very well and when I spoke to her about how well she had done, she said "it's because I was scared". And she figured it out actually. Because she was afraid and stayed so shallow (ankle deep), she got into it really quickly. Then the lady encouraged her to go a little deeper and eventually she was going out to chest deep. Ruth was eventually at shoulder depth.

Falling was obviously a big part of the day (and the reason Hannah stayed shallow - not wanting to fall into deep water).
Brendon just happened to get this photo and Ruth has said I can include it. I like it actually because of the lovely smile on her face. She said falling off was scary but also fun.

When we discussed it afterwards we realized why Hannah had more success than the other two. They were shown that getting up was a 2 part process. The older girls took too long to get through these two positions (Rachel stuck here in the first position). Hannah went from one to the next really quickly and so got up without loosing her balance between the steps.

It was hard for Brendon watching all three and trying to get a photo of each one of them up. So it was great that he got this one of Ruth nicely up and stable.

Hannah was a bit easier though as she got up so many times.

Well done Hannah.

So nice that even though she was so afraid to start with, she ended up doing so well and having so much fun.

Another one with Ruth up.

And he got one of Rachel up too.

What a great day for them with such special memories. Big thanks to Parent to Parent and their sponsors for making it possible.

Smile, shave, sing and play

Wed 22nd: Such a cutie. Sleeping so peacefully and so cute with that little hand.

Last night Asher had a seizure at 9:15. She had sat up and so Brendon and I were both with her. She looked postictal (like she had already had a seizure) but while we were trying to comfort her the seizure started. Thankfully she could get to sleep not long after it and had a quiet night further.

I'm thankful things were not too bad over the time that I was away. Rachel only had to deal with 1 seizure on her own. She is more than capable, but it's not pleasant to be on your own.

Getting a nice bath today with Mum. The children always find this far more enjoyable than being bathed in a baby bath.
So typical having her turn her head to put her ear in the water. They listened to things through water for 9 months - so it must be so very familiar.
Skin looking so healthy and such a lovely pink. It was also nice to have the cord off by 5 days. Hezekiah kept asking "is the cord off yet".

Rachel, Brendon and I am sure we have already seen really little smiles (not just windy ones).


Although this one was very cute - it was most likely caused by wind. :-)

Thursday 23rd: Brendon and Hezekiah have been needing hair cuts for a while. It was good to finally get that done today. Asher just loves touching Brendon's head when it's just been shaved.
So enjoying the feel of it.
She had another seizure this evening at 9:30. Poor girl.

Friday 24th: Brendon and I went to assembly today with Asher and Anastasia. A teacher came up to me and told me how Hannah had said I would be there, but she didn't think I would with Anastasia being so young. So Hannah missed out on doing a more leading part (they keep that for someone who has a parent at assembly). The teacher was very apologetic.
Hannah still did a great job in her part of the song. She is so expressive. And it was perfectly suitable to the words of the song. Well done Hannah.
And well done to Hezekiah for getting a certificate.

For Excellence on Athletics Day.
2nd in 80m running,
2nd in 50m running,
1st in high jump and
2nd in ball throw.

Well done Hezekiah.

Saturday 25th: Hezekiah created this plane with the help of Ruth. He had fun making it but even more fun playing with it.

After assembly yesterday Brendon headed down to Farley for a Karate camp. The camp went till Sunday lunch time but he will travel back after the training sessions this afternoon. So he got the full day there today. They are doing assessments on Sunday and he has been told he can't grade again (as he has jumped belts every time he has graded) so it wasn't really worth staying through Sunday.
I'm glad he got to go, but am also glad it was only for the one night.

And then we enjoyed a bit of music this afternoon. Anastasia slept through it all too.

Asher had a seizure this afternoon at 5:45. And then she had a really bad day on Sunday. I'll leave that for it's own post.

Home and 1 week old

Friday 17th: Anastasia and I headed home today. Ruth was off to a Guide camp this morning, so Brendon dropped her off in Amberley to thankfully get a lift to town with another girl. Because of her not being home when we got home today, I was especially glad she got the visit yesterday.
I am so thankful to a friend for lending us this Moses basket. It's handy to have her sleeping in it in the lounge with us all (safe from Asher's ball throwing).

As it was a public holiday today Daniel could have a longer weekend visit and so he arrived this morning. Hannah and Hezekiah finally got their request granted and played the card game of our Bible game. Through the weekend they also got to play the longer board game. They also got their traditional park walk in. :-)

Showing Asher how to gently wipe Anastasia's head. She is still not really interested.

Gently touching her tummy is another safe option (rather than her pointing to and touching her eyes). Asher has surprisingly not even show an interest in touching her. I suppose this is better (and safer) than her possibly always trying to touch her or pick her up.

Anastasia and I having a rest and Asher wanted to join us for a bit.

Enjoying a sleep late afternoon.

Saturday 18th: So hot today she was warm enough in just a vest. Although I don't think it's called a vest in NZ. It's normally a singlet, but that doesn't seem quite right. ;-)

A nicer photo today of their repeat bible card game.

Sunday 19th: Ruth got home after lunch today. I wanted some pants for Anastasia and Ruth got these ones out. She didn't even realize that she had gotten the pants that match this top.
Ruth was so tired this afternoon, she fell asleep on the couch.

On the park trip today Hannah and Hezekiah went on their bikes. It was so hot today that he had this hairstyle when he got home. Brendon told him it looked like Darth Maul - so he did a villain face for the first photo. :-)

Ruth was awake enough this evening to help Anastasia get to sleep. She is struggling with her tummy so often needs to be more upright and have pressure on her tummy to get to sleep.


Monday 20th: Lindsay weighed her today. Babies very often loose weight in the first week. They even have a line for "percentage weight loss in first week" on the page she completes on this check. Anastasia had put on 40g though.

She is looking so healthy.

Tuesday 21st: One week old today. A good excuse to dress her up for some photos.

Thanks Ria for the special clothes.

Very cute indeed.