Harry Turns 60

In January Harry turned 60 and so we celebrated.

It was lovely to have all the family together especially as we couldn't all be together at Christmas.
Katrina and Callum came up from Christchurch; Theresa and Steven from Wellington; Daniel had the weekend off from the farm in Rerewhakaaitu and Jennifer and Sarah with their families meet us from Hamilton.

With every one here over the weekend we met and went to dinner at Five Stags a restaurant and bar in Leamington, Cambridge. It was great to all be together with no-one having to cook, do the dishes or clean up and there was plenty of choice for everyone including the five grandchildren. Some of us weren't too happy with the meals as the meat seemed to be over cooked but that didn't stop us having family fun

Theresa and Steven with niece Natalie

Jennifer and Jason (parents of Jacob and Natalie)

Sarah and Carl (parents of Ryan. Evelyn and Sean)

Daniel

Katrina and Callum

Ryan

Evelyn

Sean

Jacob. (He wanted to take a selfie)

Some special moments...

 Sarah feeling the baby kick







Yes it did!!!









And this card was from.........












"He ain't heavy...he's my brother...."

I want to sit next to Nana.... No I want too!


You can sit both sides of me and then you will be both sitting by Nana.


Oh Nana that is so funny

Harry and me

So for desert we decided to buy our own ice creams and met down at the Lake Te Ko Utu reserve at Cambridge.

Look at me!

No hands!

Mummy wait for me..

Its OK you can walk with Opa










Watching and feeding the ducks does not mean you can get in the water too.












Ice cream Natalie?

Nope Its too cold and I'm too tired.

All the girls (except Evelyn, she's gone bush with the boys)

The following day we had a bar-b-que with the family and lots of friends and so we took this opportunity to get a group family photo.

What a good idea!

who's baby is this?

Sorry Evelyn that is Opa's seat

I just need to sort the hair!

Is every one ready??

Testing... testing ...testing...

Would someone stop Ryan crying.

Yes well.....

Sean's had enough

Back row: Steven. Jennifer holding Natalie, Jason holding Jacob. Carl holding Ryan, Sarah, Katrina and Callum.
Front row: Theresa (and bump), Daniel, Me holding Sean, Harry holding Evelyn.

But isn't that what family is all about?
Love you all.

Eat, Pray, Love

Ever since this book was first talked about I had wanted to read it. I enjoy going to book sales and at one of these fun scavenger hunts I found my own copy for a mere $2. I stashed it away in my ever growing pile thinking one day I would finally get to read it.

And then at one of our monthly book club meetings it was chosen as the book to read that month. So now not only was it a book that "had" to be read, it was one I had and have wanted to read.
So when I had finally finished the long book I was currently reading I dived in to Eat Pray Love.

Written by Elizabeth Gilbert, it is a true story of her 'finding herself' after a traumatic divorce and a stormy new relationship. She decides to spend a year in three countries "each starting with the letter 'I'" after what I would call a spiritual experience from God. At first I am quiet enthusiastic as it seems she comes to make a commitment to God but as I read through the book I realize it is not going to be as I thought.

In Italy she discovers food and "Eats" her way through numerous delicious sounding dishes as she learns to speak the Italian language that she loves.
Moving on to India she goes to an Ashram where she spends her time along with others from around the world learning to "Pray" and meditate. This section in particular really bugs me as I know that talking and listening to God (in prayer) does not involve the strict disciplines and rules to hear from Him. I feel that she and the others there were being slaves to some other god. In fact it made me so cross that they couldn't see what they were doing was such a bind that I almost through the book across the room!
Finally she goes to Indonesia, and more precisely Bali, to spend time learning from a medicine man. Once again I was sort of angry she felt the need to find out the ways of this healing man when it was not from God.
During this time she meets and falls in "Love" with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship, who also helps her to discover the joyfulness in a relationship between a man and a woman.

I am pleased I have read the book and am actually keen to watch the movie of the same name which stars Julia Roberts as Elizabeth. I actually really like Julia's acting so that in itself should be good. Having read the book as well will mean that I will know the bits in between that are missed out in movies because of the confinement of time.

It will be interesting for me to see if I get as frustrated with, what I feel, is a lack of understanding of God and His love for us as I did in the book. God loved us through sending His Son Jesus Christ, who died for us so that we could be free to have a relationship with God, with out the rules and rituals other religions put on a person, before they can be close to God.

Folding Cloth Nappies

Theresa and I were chatting on the phone.
She is nearly due to have their first baby. Talking about being in the home/hospital these days and what it was like when she was born - things have changed so much. I was trying to encourage her to stay in for as long as she could, knowing that most mothers go home within the day or next.
We were talking about the things she will need during her stay and how nappies were supplied as long as she knew how to fold them.

These days mothers use disposable nappies or cloth nappies but not what I used as cloth nappies.

There are all sorts of brands and many different textures of the outside of the nappy. Each are like what we used as an over-nappy to keep the dampness away from the outer clothes. Now this is the nappy and it has an added "inner" for more absorption.

Generally speaking no-one uses the cloth nappies like I used.

Theresa was concerned that she didn't know how to fold them so I said with a smile I would do a blog post just for her.


So I found some old nappies, baby safety pins and my doll "Rose" and clicked away.

So this is for you Theresa!

Basically all nappy folds start with the nappy opened right up.

These terry cloth nappies had a slightly fluffy side and so that was lain face down. The terry side was always next to the baby's skin as it allowed a slight breathing space between the dampness and the skin.

1. This first folding design is the typical old fashioned one that most people started with. It was used by all the nurses in the hospitals because of its quick and easy folding.

It is the nappy folded opposite corned to corner to form a large triangle.

This is folded again to form a smaller triangle.

The nappy is positioned with the longest side of the triangle at the baby's waist and the point between the legs.

The first single side is folded over and the point folded up between the legs. Then the oposite side folded over and then the second part on the first side of the nappy folded in.

Holding it all into place the safety pin is pushed through the top three sections (not the part that was first folded) being careful to keep your fingers between the baby's body and the pin so its you who gets stabbed if you push too far!

This seemed to serve its purpose with newborns how ever it wasn't very thick in the areas that it was needed most.

My Plunket nurse showed me another way that was very good for catching all the lovely "no 2's" that breastfeeding baby's produce!





2. Starting with an 'open' nappy you bring the bottom edge up towards the top edge but not all the way in half.

You sort of new how far to bring the folded over time as you went nearly to the edge for small "bottoms" but further away for large ones!

You then fold the side over towards the opposite side but not completely in half. About the same distance away as the first fold. (there will be a single layer of a "square" shape in the corner)

Now bring the thick folded corner up towards the single layer corner. (in a diagonal fold) to form a triangle.

Place the nappy triangle under the baby as per the other triangle shaped nappy above.

Fold the first "thick" point of the triangle up between the legs tightly and then the two sides over. Lastly bring up the single point to pin it all together. Once again holding it all into place pinning through the top three sections (not the part that was first folded) being careful to keep your fingers between the baby's body and the pin so its you who gets stabbed if you push too far!

And then there was the artificial pad nappy fold.  This was good for night time and crawling babies.

3. Starting with the flat nappy it is folded in half.

With the folded edge closest to you, pick up the top layer of one corner and bring it right over to reach the opposite corner forming a triangle on the top layer.You will see that the remaining part of the bottom layer is still the rectangle shape.

Turn the whole nappy over being careful to keep the folded part in place.

The remaining rectangle part will now be on top. (This will form the "pad")

Fold over the side of the "pad" to about a third from the center and then fold it again so it sits as a pad in the middle of the nappy.

Place the nappy as with the others with the long straight edge at the waist and the base of the triangle/pad between the legs.

Bring the bottom part up between the legs and then the two sides over and pin into place.

If this is used on a larger baby it maybe necessary to use an additional pad which was just another nappy folded in half, in half again and then a third time to make a rectangle about the same size as the artificial pad.

All these nappy folds were used by me for my babies and I loved to have them in a pair of fluffies over the top. It was a breathable over nappy or pilcher.