Author: McPikelets

Nightmare.

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Amy has woken me up the last two nights “because I’ve had a terrible nightmare and need to talk about it”. The first night was that she and her dad were in a sandcastle competition, and she won, but her dad’s sandcastle was actually better. The next night it was that she was drawing a picture and made a mistake, but couldn’t be bothered getting another bit of paper to start again. She’s totally going to grow into one of those women I overhear saying things like “Farro had run out of red quinoa, so I had to improvise by using white quinoa in my salad instead…total NIGHTMARE.” and “All the cronuts had sold out before I got there. Literally my worst nightmare”. (Um, actually, I may have said that second one myself)

Judgey

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Want to go do a quick shop at Farro, but worried that I’m on some sort of “Parent Watch List” after our last visit: we walked past the wine section and Amy shrieked “YAY! CharrrrrdonAAAYYY!” while doing a happy little jig. That followed on from our previous visit when she yelled “you’re not even my real mother!” Repeat-shopper Grey Lynn judgey eyes will be upon me.

Anna Milk

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Amy keeps calling almond milk “Anna’s Milk” (because Frozen is a virus we will never, ever be able to eradicate from our lives). It’s sort of two parts cute, and one part really putting me off my morning smoothie.

It’s a setup

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Following a long and considered conversation about whether fairies are actually real or not (I’m trying to keep the magic alive for my four-year-old sceptic), Amy has dictated a letter and drawn a picture to leave out for them. “If fairies ARE actually real, Mummy, then they’ll probably leave me a letter and a chocolate”. ‪#‎SetUp‬ ‪#‎Entrapment‬

Pretty Brave

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#PrettyBrave shoes living up to their name… Put on Tilly’s new moccasins, turned away for a moment and she decides to be an acrobatic equestrian (equestrian acrobat? I’ve never really had to think of that combination of words before)

Sleep Where Art Thou?

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(Originally published in the July/August issue of NZ Little Treasures Magazine) When you’re heavily pregnant, the topic of sleep is a hot one, possibly second only to nightmarish birth tales. Friends and strangers alike revel in sharing sleep advice, horror stories, and confirming that You Will Never Sleep Again. “Sleep now, while you can!” people would crow at me when I was pregnant the first time – which was incredibly unhelpful as I had pregnancy-induced insomnia. “Congratulations! Hope you get some sleep soon!” seemed to be the most frequent comment when we announced the birth of our children. My Mum vows I slept through the night from four weeks, but I’m pretty sure she made that up to ensure I’d give her multiple grandchildren. Amy was actually pretty good, as far as newborn sleepers go. She gifted me fairly long stretches of sleep during the night, and would resettle quickly. Daytime sleeps were a different story, but I didn’t mind holding her or taking her for walks to get her to drift off. I thought …

Four sets of twins. Nine kids under seven. I’m not even kidding.

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Some of the girls from this lovely family go to kindy with my four year old. They have a six year old son, then a set of girl twins, then another set of girl twins, then another set of girl twins, and now a set of girl/boy twins. Yes, that’s NINE children aged six and under. They are the most beautifully turned-out and well-behaved children I’ve ever met. When I see their smiling faces, perfect hair, and neatly labelled lunch boxes, I often feel a flush of shame as I screech (usually late and unshowered) into kindy while wiping breakfast off Amy’s face and scraping her hair into a ponytail. Thinking about their laundry pile makes me want to have a G&T and a lie down. https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/29219545/fourth-set-of-twins-for-nz-family/?cmp=st