Random Pearls from Parnell

This is probably the last time I will write to you from my lovely little perch in Parnell.  Movers are scheduled for Monday morning and we are headed out to Kohimarama for the remaining time that we will be in Auckland.    I am looking forward to it in some ways but not in others.  I wanted to share a little that's been on my mind in the meantime although I have absolutely nothing of any importance to say, I am going to type away...

Once, what seems like a million years ago, I had a friend who we will call Raquets 4 Rachel of R4R for short who had a baby.  I wasn't even married yet or even thinking about it if I recall so I was probably like 26!  I went to her house one day and someone knocked on the door (once I was already inside).  She didn't answer the door telling me that when she had become a mother she had stopped answering the door unless she was expecting someone...I will not lie, I thought this was over the top!

Fast forward almost a decade and guess what?  I do not answer my door unless I am expecting someone!  I totally agree with her, when someone calls you mama, life changes.  Ed McMahon (did you know he died four years ago?  I had NO idea) could be knocking on my door (although it would have to be his ghost with publisher's clearing house) and I would not answer.  Better yet, it could be Oprah and I would be like, please make an appointment!

The people who bought our house have been here like a dozen times (not exaggerating) in the last FOUR months and they are about ready to drive me insane.  There is always a door left open or a window left unlocked and today they left the gate to the unused backyard open (where I finally found AJ3 after a frantic search).  I don't really like having strangers (and their subcontractors) around my kids. If for no other reason than this, I am ready to move.

Our new house is AWESOME!!  Super excited to show you around!!  We have a great view of Rangitoto, a little fenced in park down the street a walled off private courtyard and one whole side of the house is glass!

So, today I am saying goodbye to the new owners of the Brighton house but I am also saying goodbye to my second least favorite part of pregnancy -- the first trimester!  Whoohoo!  Goodbye sleepy, grumpy, sicky, icky, nasty first trimester!!  Babies who make it through the first trimester of gestation have only a 3% risk of miscarriage (okay so that statistic could be totally inaccurate as I googled it and gave you the first answer I found -- I'm not even siting it).  Tomorrow morning I am officially still not very pregnant (14 weeks) but I have been feeling ready for the energy, nesting, wonderfulness of trimester 2!

I even look forward to the dreaded last six weeks -- okay, maybe I don't -- but the last day of pregnancy at like 37 weeks sounds fantastically happy to me!!  Some of my favorite people were born on June 19 (I'll be 37 weeks that day)!!  I have NEVER carried a baby 40 weeks or 39 weeks or even 38 weeks so I am hoping for a healthy, 6 1/2 pound (Oh goodness, I will not know how much my baby weighs until after I convert it!!), 21 inch (again with the conversion!), 37 week kiwi in the middle of the night (I've never had a baby in the daylight hours!)!!  Just watch, I will have an 3.62 Kg, 43 CM, noon time baby!!

One last thing and if you haven't left of your own volition, I will be done - AJ1 has been asking about birth.  I'm just not ready to have that conversation with my four year old...This weekend he was asking in the car with JJ and I and I answered that the baby would be born at the hospital.  AJ1 asked where the baby would come out, I said the hospital.  It's a conversation we have had for weeks and weeks and he knows I am avoiding him so JJ answers that I will push the baby out at the hospital.  1 becomes very serious and says incredulously that Mamma can't do that because then 4's head will explode!  I think we traumatized him more than we would have with talk of vaginas!!

Cheers!

My Number One Son

First of all, I would like to apologize to AJ1 for not posting this sooner.  I posted for your brothers before their birthdays and I hope that you will understand that this week has been extraordinary (as in extraordinarily hard).

I was totally unprepared for all of us to get very, very sick and have to stay home the entire week and pretty much forgo food (including cake).  You told us unprompted that you had a good birthday and I pray that it's true.  Ironically, this is the closest we have ever lived to the beach and the first time we didn't celebrate your birthday there.  The next nice day that we have I plan to take you to wade in the surf and play in the sand as you love so much to do!

Since your birth we have lived in five different houses in two states and two countries.  You have adjusted each time without a hitch.  Your Daddy has worked so hard for our family during your first years of life and I have depended on you to help keep my sanity at home.  I am proud to say that you have risen to the occasion!  I know I couldn't have done it without you.

You are my little clone.  Sure, I see your daddy in you every now and then but the truth is, I see photos of you that could be me and me that could be you.  I find myself in your body language and pray that you will end up being far more coordinated than I.

You are also my clone in attitude, speech and demeanor.  It amazes me that each time I think, "Where did he come up with that one?", nine times out of ten it's directly from the way I have acted, said something, responded to you (the other one time out of ten it's from Thomas the Tank Engine in case you were wondering)!

You call your grandparents by the funniest names!  Your father's parents are called their first names and my grandparents are called Grandma and Junie!  I hope you always do this as I find it endearing and cute!!  You call your cousin either "cousin" or Elvin.  I cannot wait to find out what you decide on for Aunt S' soon to be born baby.

You are the best big brother.  As soon as you became a brother you wanted everyone to know.  At twenty months you would introduce AJ2 to anyone around and then you did it again when AJ3 came along!

You build tracks, race trains and teach your brothers every step of the way.  I will never forget when you were just a toddler and you would wake and sit with me each time AJ2 woke to nurse over-night.  Then there was the time that at not quite three we caught you carrying your very newborn brother down the hall like an expert!  I thought Mamaw was going to have a coronary!!

You are a natural leader and have taken that role in each activity you participate in.  Currently, at Play Centre they joke that it's because you sound like you are straight off the TV (difference in accent) but I know you have naturally gravitated toward this since, well, forever.  Being a leader can be rewarding but also very hard, although I dread the difficult times, I know you are strong and can handle them.

You have the ability to decide what you want and the patience and determination to see it happen.  I find this a frustrating trait that we share as I am sure you do as well.  We lock horns and dig in our heels and I fear each time that you are learning to negotiate too quickly for me to keep up.  I learned these same tools from my Papaw Jay and can remember watching him and cataloguing the tricks of his trade.  I wish you had the opportunity to know him, the two of you would have gotten on like gangbusters!

Soon, I will not be able to keep you with me all the time, away from much of the rest of the world and I am dreading when that time comes.  There is so much of the world that I want to show you but also a huge part of it that I want to keep from you and I know I cannot.  I pray that I am giving you the tools to cope with those pieces of humanity and nature.  I also pray that you stay safe, healthy and close to your brothers, your father and me.

Happy, happy birthday my dear, sweet boy.

One Dark Night When We Were All In Bed, Mrs. O'Leary...

I steered our family toward Napier for our next night/day of vacation.  Napier is in the Hawke's Bay region located on the Eastern shore of New Zealand.  I was keen to see this area because it had been leveled by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in classic Deco style that still stands.  I read that it is lit at night with neon and looks beautiful in its glory.  We arrived at dusk and rented a very standard motel room.

Blurry photo of Napier at night.  It's the best I got.

The room housed two sleeping spaces.  One in the main area with a queen size bed and sleeper sofa and another with two twin beds.  There was a generous bathroom with shower and separate whilrpool tub and a small kitchenette in the area that also served as a hall.  It was a newer construction and had a great balcony as well.

We left the boys asleep with my grandmother and went to dinner at the Masonic Hotel just up the road. I had an uneasy feeling.  I worried the entire time we were gone.  I was spooked by the crashing waves (it is too dangerous a beach to swim at and the wave CRASH into the shore LOUDLY). I was spooked by the seals at the National Aquarium moaning in the night.  We kept walking around town after dinner looking for another drink (we sound like alcoholics probably, but we had only had one glass of wine in a wine region we were not familiar with and wanted to try more).  Nothing was open on Friday night at 10pm, I wasn't impressed with the architecture as I had hoped to be (I had imagined it to be all Rand's The Fountainheadesque and it was much more subtle) and I was spooked by the emptyness of the town.

I am not comfortable leaving my boys with anyone.  I was moderately coming to terms with leaving them with one specific sitter in Charlottesville.  A young woman in her mid-twenties who was a responsible, professional, business owner (not in the child care business) who was married but had not begun a family yet.      I would still worry pretty much the entire time that I was away (and I totally trust Cari).  I will leave them with my grandma and not really worry.  That is about where it stops.  JJ has not ever cared for all three boys at one time by himself.

We got back to the hotel and everything was fine.  Everyone was asleep and we fell asleep ourselves too.  Morning came early and I needed to contact the states for work quickly before the business day was over.  My cell was dead and I needed to go to the store before we began our day so I left everyone and headed across this little town to the Pac 'n Save and use the car charger to make my call.

When I returned, I was met at the door by a moderately upset JJ.  My first thought was, this place smells like candles, hmmm.  Ooops!  I had innocently set a bag of supplies on top of the stovetop hob (I made a mental note to make sure the hob was turned off at the wall switch -- everything is on a wall switch here -- so that even if it were turned on at the knob it wouldn't heat up).  At some point in the night Mamaw looked for the light switch for the hall and must have flipped the switch to the hob.  After I left to run my errand and make my call, AJ2 was caught playing with the hob knobs and a FIRE broke out!!

The fire department was called and the alarms went off evacuating the entire motel (which was at capacity).  Thankfully, JJ found the source, put it out before any real damage was done and dealt with the hotel manager etc.  In classic fashion, JJ then made all of us breakfast and we ended up missing our check out by thirty minutes.  It was hilarious!!  The poor manager tried to be passive aggressive with me when I paid but in my classic type-A American way, I stopped her dead in her tracks.  I understand her frustration, but come on, I was having a seriously bad day already!

We finally packed up and headed over to the National Aquarium and to let the boys play at the beach and ride their scooters.  I never got to see the seals, I was tired and getting cranky and we hit the road again with our sites on Wellington as a final destination.

The Adventure Continues...

We stopped the first night of vacation (we never made any reservations) at a little motel in Taupo called the Oasis.  It wasn't anything fancy but it had two bedrooms, a living area and a full kitchen, a steamy pool, sat right on the lake and it was immaculately clean (and really reasonably priced).  AJ1 fell asleep before we arrived so JJ and I donned swimsuits and took AJ2 for some rare two parents with the middle child bonding time.  It was fantastic to swim in the brisk night air and AJ2 was so, so happy!

Morning came early for mamma and the two big AJs (like 4:30 am early!) and I was that much more grateful for the living area of the hotel.  A bit later everyone else got up, JJ and I took the two bigs swimming and we were on the road again!  We headed out to Whakapapa and National Park.  What. A. Drive.

A Kiwi friend of mine talks about how she feels rather immune to the beautiful scenery here.  I cannot believe that these beautiful mountains volcanoes wouldn't affect anyone who sees them each and every time.

These photos may (or may not) look familiar, this was the set for Modor in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the area around it was used to film the Hobbit earlier this year.  It is also (and probably more importantly) a world heritage area.

I have not touched at all on the Maori (I apologize, I do not know how to place diacritics in blogger) people in New Zealand and I am not going to now except to say that there is a beautiful legend that I have read that is associated with the Maori and these mountains.  If you are interested, you can read it here.

Once we got up onto the mountains we had planned to go tramping but with the recent eruption, many of the  crossings were closed and we decided to move on.  Little did we know, our trip would reach the apex of excitement the next morning!

Happy Birthday AJ3

Christmas 2010 I was sick.  In fact, the entire family was so, very, sick.

Everyone else recovered, Mamma just found herself exhausted...

Then we realized that AJ3 was on his way

 The third baby to be born in 34 months to the Savage family.

Everyone said "think pink" but Mamma knew...

He didn't get a name until his Mamma's water broke and she and Daddy were headed over to UVA...

The day after he was born our little world shook in a rare VA earthquake (5.8, not a little quake!).

AJ1 was immediately in love with 3

He's quick to smile and giggle (especially when his brothers are around)

He's always ready to try anything!

He loves adventure (thankfully)!

And looks for mischief.

He charms everyone he meets.

The best surprise for the Savage family!

Happy, happy birthday AJ3!!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Hi there!  Today was one of those days where I couldn't help but stop and be thankful for so many things in life.  As I write this Van Morrison is crooning Bang Masters from my living room, a fire is cozy in the fireplace,  the house smells of garlic as dinner is almost finished with my AJs and my JJ all around, so much to be thankful for.

Let's start out with the good.  Today I heard from a few different people.  Each of them from a different area or era of my life but they all said really nice things.  I needed that today.  I am so thankful for each of them and for so many others who have shaped me and I hold dear to my heart (chances are good if you are reading this you are counted in this number).  I have been so blessed with the right people at the right time.  Maybe I will expand on this another time.

The bad.  My family's oldest, dearest friends were effected by tragedy today, lost a member and have another injured in the hospital.  Life is so precious and we take it for granted so easily. It is hard to be away at times like this and we are praying for them.

The ugly.  We have to move again.  Not such a drastic move this time.  We are hoping to stay in Parnell but the owner of our house has decided to sell and is willing to let us out of our lease if we choose to leave earlier than January.  I just want to be settled as we can be so I am currently looking for a house again!

I decided that I would take this opportunity to share the bit of home we have had time to create here on Brighton Road, Parnell, Auckland.  Here are some photos of our humble abode (I warn you, these are not the best photos even I have taken so be prepared).

Three of my boys

My baby is growing up (and looking like a Cleaver, smiles)

Okay so this is a really bad photo but that is a parrot outside my kitchen window

AJ1 requested that I include this photo, Rosie.

AJ2 has taken to the smaller fridge. It's just the right size for him to get into (constantly)
I guess it will be even worse when I have teenage boys, right?

The view from our room

One of the boys beds.
Weird to only have one cot here and two twins, my babies are growing too fast.

We have so much closet space and so few belongings that we don't need any drawers!

Okay, for real, how cute is this?

Just about everyone has a cat door here...we do not however have a cat (in New Zealand)!

Our lodgey living room is so cozy for my fam.

Depending on how long we end up here, in this house, you may see photos of decorative items or the ten million crafts that I have pinned for the boys to do on rainy everyday, but given the fact that we only showed up with suitcases (even if it seemed like a trillion), I think we have done quite well in six weeks time settling in.  Of course we have a few other rooms but with the vomit fest that has been happening this week and the fact that I worked at the dining table all day, those were not ready to be photographed.

Cheers!

PS JJ has asked to do a guest post, think should let him?