Living in Sin!!! FINALLY!!!!

We are FINALLY officially living in sin (okay, going by various religions & moral compasses, we will always be living in sin due to the lack of penis in our relationship)!   I have to say, it's a hell of a lot of fun as well... even the 'grown up', 'responsible' stuff we've been doing this week (mostly regarding government departments). 

Driving onto the ferry

Our trip up from Christchurch was very much smooth sailing (quite literally for the three hours we were on the ferry!) - the children were amazingly well behaved, I don't think there were any major meltdowns by either of them, and the one time Emmy did get close to tantrum territory was when we were stuck in the car waiting to go onto the ferry... and after putting Peppa Pig on the laptop for her, all tears disappeared and were replaced by laughter and the general happiness that comes with watching Peppa Pig.  It was lovely being able to see parts of the country that I had never seen before - Lauriel and I lost our 'top of the South Island virginity' at the same time, which was very fitting.  In total we were travelling for 13 hours - around 10 of those hours spent in the car... there were about 10 minutes in total when we weren't driving (getting petrol, going through the Wendys drivethru).  I drove the entire way, which was mostly to keep my passenger anxiety at bay (I make an awful passenger)... but it was also a really cool road to drive!  It was extremely hot in Picton, and admittedly quite the bore... but the rest of the trip was pretty cool!

Emmy as SpiderMan

On Tuesday Emersyn started at her new preschool (Little Kiwis Learning Centre, which Aidan also attended), and so far she seems to love it.  There were a few tears when we left on Tuesday (her, not me!), but Wednesday and Friday she seemed to be fine - and on none of those days did the teachers contact me to pick her up because she was inconsolable... quite the success I think, especially considering she had started throwing tantrums whenever I left her at preschool in Christchurch!  Gaby is rather jealous of Emersyn who has started school already - every morning (without fail, trust me) she exclaims how excited she is to be starting school soon.  The next just-under-a-month better go quickly.

Look!  Its Princess Gaby

Between arriving here and now, we have purchased a set of bunks for... well, two of the children to sleep in and a set of drawers, which from the start have been our 'must buy ASAP' items.  Obviously living in a 2 bedroom house with 4 children isn't optimum (or even close to it), so right now we are on the lookout for a bigger house, and it seems we have found one - and it just so happens to belong to one of Lauriel's friend, and could very much be a win-win situation for all involved, due to her friends tenants f*cking her around.  There is a HUGE yard, which we decided is more important than big bedrooms (we looked at a 4br house which had HUGE rooms but a tiny yard) with four very active children who love being outdoors.  Plus that leaves us the opportunity to get them a trampoline for Christmas...

We have also started planning our wedding more seriously - to the extent we have a book especially for wedding related stuff!  Our venue is sorted, date and time are sorted - so yesterday we ordered our wedding invitations... it seemed like the logical step.  Tomorrow is three months until the wedding, so really it is time to get things organised!!!  It's exciting doing so, and makes me feel like I'm actually an adult, which is something I've never really felt like before - for the past 6 years all I have acknowledged myself being is a Mum, which of course is amazing and wonderful, but I never really felt like there was another side to me.  But now I know there is!

One Year of Love!

Celebrating our first anniversary

Yesterday Lauriel and I celebrated our one year anniversary!!!

A long time ago, we said we hoped we'd be living together by the time 1 year rolled around, but I don't think either of us thought it would actually happen (so soon, not in general!) - but January 4 2013 rolled around, and we were indeed living together on that day.  Sure, we may have been in a bit of a halfway house (ie my wonderful parents), but there are no tearful goodbyes in our future, so technically we reached our goal.

The stand right behind us, that's where we sat on June 16th
and watched the All Blacks v Ireland... not to mention our
first game together (Stormers), and our third game together
(Hurricanes, with Lauren). and hopefully we'll get to the
stadium once or twice in 2013, though it won't be quite as easy

We booked a motel room for the night and went out to Lonestar for dinner - both getting the ribs, and being as naughty as to get dessert (Kahlua Moro Cheesecake for me & Creme Brulée for Lauriel).  Back at the motel we watched Graham Norton and the last half of Jaws, then I went to sleep - while Lauriel had a shitty nights sleep and didn't get to sleep until 2am.  I know there is the whole 'ooooo dirty night in a motel' cliche thingy... but I think we were both far too tired for that! 

This morning after leaving the motel, we stopped at Christchurch Stadium to say goodbye - it won't be a surprise to those of you who know that Christchurch Stadium is the home of the Crusaders, and also where we saw the All Blacks play, so it just HAD to be done.  We also said goodbye to Rugby Park... for similar reasons (as the name of the ground would suggest) - I don't think there are any other places which hold significance to us that we had to say goodbye to...  That said, we did have to say goodbye to Lauren, which was my first tear inducing goodbye.  Later in the morning it was Jason (Emmy's Daddy) - another tear inducer....

Ribs at Lonestar... om nom nom nom nommmmm

Right now it's 8.45pm on Saturday 5th January, 2013.  In 12 hours time we will hopefully be about 75 minutes out of Christchurch - headed for the ferry in Picton, before jumping back in the car in Wellington and heading for our final port of call - Wanganui.  In about 24 hours time we should be home - and my facebook 'current city' status thing can be changed from 'Christhurch, New Zealand' to 'Wanganui, New Zealand'.  I will no longer be a South Islander, I will be a North Islander.  In the space of a single day, I will go from being an East Coaster, to a West Coaster.  Lauriel's house will become OUR house... and then we can start the real search for our OWN (rental) house.

Dessert time!!!!  As Emmy would say, 'Mmmm delicious!'

The car is packed - and when I say packed, I mean it in every sense of the word.  Every spare nook and cranny is taken up by clothing, toys, books, bags, scooters (x2), blankets, sheets, pillows, boxes.  If I find anything that isn't packed, it's going to be a case of TOUGH LUCK, and getting it couriered up if whatever it is is deemed urgent enough (y'know - like the kids).

After all the build up, January 6th is ALMOST here... We've spent so many months working toward this date, and now that we're essentially there, the next big date to work toward is April 13th... the day we shall officially become stuck with each other forever and ever.  And ever.  AND EVER.  Before April 13th, there IS the beginning of the school year on February 7th, which will be Gaby's first day at Durie Hill School - and she is uber excited that she's going to be going to a school WITH A SWIMMING POOL, and NO UNIFORM!

Our route tomorrow... including a 3 hour ferry ride across Cook Strait

A Year Ago...

We bonded over this DVD!

A year ago, Lauriel and I were probably sitting on my couch - getting ready to watch the RWC 2011 DVD that we had both purchased copies off that day (along with buying a RWC 2011 related book each)... There is no doubt in my mind we'd have been laughing, giggling like idiots, making rude jokes,  and feeling that the two of us being on the same couch, in the same room, in the same house, in the same suburb, in the same city, was quite simply meant to be.  Little did we know that 5 days later the 'meant to be' aspect of US would evolve into something a lot more intense and forever-ish (that's a word... or it is now). 

Pav... we ate a LOT of Pav...

A year ago neither of us would have imagined we'd be HERE right now.  Me sitting at the table blogging, Lauriel on the chair with Aidan on her leg, and Eloise.... well, lets pretend she's not in the toilet right now!  We didn't know we'd be in love, we didn't know we'd be 3 1/2 months away from our wedding, or 8 days away from the girls and I moving up to Wanganui to live with Lauriel, Eloise & Aidan!  We knew we'd be best friends, but I guess we both assumed our friendship would be played out via text and Skype...

It's verrrrrrry funny the way things work out!

Three of our fantabulous kiddos

Lauriel and the kiddos have been here for over a week now - and I have to say that other than a few little spats, the kids are getting on really well... I am enjoying life as a parent to 4 kids, even if it is more stressful than 2, though I think that's more related to the adjustment we're all going through.  I wouldn't change anything - I really wouldn't.  Like I've said before, I believe everything happens for a reason, and although I know that in Lauriel's mind the perfect situation would be us living here, in Christchurch - but Christchurch just can't be part of the equation for now.  From the start we have wanted to be together, and have said we'd do what we had to do to live together - and Wanganui is that for us right now.  

Don't get me wrong - I'd love if we COULD stay in Christchurch - but when it comes down to it, for me it's not about WHERE we are living... just that we are there TOGETHER.  We could live in Ethiopia and I wouldn't give a rats ass, as long as we were there TOGETHER.  We've had our 12 months of living apart, and if those 12 months taught me one thing, they taught me that I NEED to be with Lauriel, I NEED to be living with the love of my life and our four beautiful, sweet, funny, amazing, kooky, cheeky kids.

First Official Family Portrait

As promised, here is our first official family photo.... The dude in the red and white isn't actually a family member - he photo bombed! 

I apologise for the quality of the photo - it's a photo of a photo....

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Saturday Morning!

Look!  It's us!!! TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!
do the amount of exclamation marks, suggest how excited I am?

On Wednesday at 4.50pm, Lauriel and the kids arrived!  We are no longer in a long distance relationship, we no longer have to say "I love you" over the phone or via text (though we still text it to each other - old habits die hard), we no longer have a count down to when we can be together again, we are no longer saying 'when we live together'....  We ARE living together. 

The four kiddos waving Poppa off, on Friday morning.

The children are all getting along well - and most surprisingly, Eloise and Gaby appear to be getting on extremely well.  I'm not sure why they are getting along well, but we sure as hell aren't questioning it!  Gaby seems to understand that Eloise doesn't like being crowded by her, and enjoys having time to herself - while Eloise seems to have more of an understanding of what this time is like for Gaby, moving houses, leaving her Grandparents (& her father, though that's not as devastating for her).  This morning they enjoyed drawing Big Fat Gypsy-esque dresses & girls, and awhile later they were colouring in together.  Perhaps creativity is their little niche, as far as having things in common goes.

Eloise & Gaby sitting in a tree...

 Yesterday we had our first family photo taken - which also counted as our first Christmas photo, and first Santa photo.  Yes, we ALL got our photo taken with Santa.  They had a hard time fitting us all in the frame.  It's rather weird when your family suddenly doubles in size - who would have thought the impact would reach as far as the bloody frame on a camera????  We pick up our photo today, and yes - of course we will post the photo!  Last night we took the 3 oldest kids to have a look at various Christmas lights around the eastern suburbs, and I think they all had a good time - perhaps if they are good we will go hunting for lights, another night...  Especially if they go straight to sleep afterward, like they did last night.  Sleep has probably been the one area where we've had some little issues - that said, they aren't rowdy or whiny while trying to go to sleep... I think the three older ones are just enjoying the novelty of having someone else in the bedroom with them, to talk to and laugh with...  I do hate to think how many rolls of toilet paper have been gone through though, because all of the older kids seem to need to go to the toilet about 50 times before they do finally go to sleep!!!

The kids have had a lot of time with Nan and Poppa - and I think it's quite the novelty for them, to have a little boy in the house!!!  Eloise and Gaby enjoyed a supermarket trip with Nan, and I think Aidan is chomping at the bit to have a little ride on Poppa's motorbike!  Nan and Poppa seem to be enjoying having all the kids in the house, but we might see if they still feel that way in another few days!

THE Last Night!

Tonight is officially THE last night that Lauriel and I will be spending apart.  Tomorrow afternoon her and the kids arrive - and we are stuck together for the rest of our lives... Forever and ever and ever and EVER.

It's been a LONG year, but at the same time - looking back, it has really gone pretty fast... and although we are going to be settling in Wanganui, as opposed to Christchurch like we really wanted, things seem to have fallen into place relatively effortlessly, which is part of why we both know this is meant to be.  Meeting was effortless.  Becoming best friends was effortless.  Falling in love was completely effortless...  The only real effort has been mental - reminding ourselves day in and day out, that one day all the distance between us, would be worth it.

.... and that day is very very VERY nearly here!

OF COURSE there is only one thing left to do - and that is sign off using the most obvious song for this occasion...

The End of an Era...

Gaby and Emersyn having their first cuddle in Cowlishaw Street
20th June, 2010.

Yesterday was the end of the era for myself & the girls - we moved out of the Cowlishaw Street house which has been home to us since August 21, 2008.  We are now living with my parents - I guess you could refer to it as a pseudo-halfway house for us, as we are living here before we leave for Wanganui on January 6th.

MANY milestone type events have happened while I have lived in the Cowlishaw Street house...

• my heart was broken for the first time
• Emersyn was conceived
• there was a huge earthquake
• I brought baby Emersyn home from the hospital
• there was an enormous earthquake 
• my gorgeous niece was born
• Emersyn turned 1
• Emersyn and Gaby both experienced their first big snow
• Gaby turned 5 & became a big school girl
• I fell in love

Surveying a little
earthquake damage

When I look at the list that way, it seems very apt that when I moved into Cowlishaw Street I was soon experiencing heartbreak for the first time - but upon leaving, I am right in the midst of experiencing the most amazing, intense, wonderful, mindblowing love... It's amazing how things change and develop... but when I look back on it, my time in Cowlishaw was full of development... my own personal development as a person & mother, the development of my own little familiy unit, and the development of my children. I also firmly believe that everything that happened in Cowlishaw Street (as with most of my adult life) led to me meeting the love of my life - and yes, that could more be me trying to look on the positive side of the few shitty things that did happen while I lived in Cowlishaw Street, but I know it's not...

One of the many happy family moments

Who would have thought a year ago when Lauriel and I were excited about her little trip down after Christmas, that in a years time we would be even more excited about the fact she was coming down again - and that I would be going back up with her, to live.  To merge our families.  To get married.  To start our forever.  Come think of it, a year ago we were bemoaning the fact we felt as if we were going to be single forever, destined (I won't say doomed, because that isn't accurate) to life as a single parent, with some Grandkids running around eventually.  Neither of us ever imagined that our lives could infact be the total opposite, that we'd meet someone amazing who wanted to spend the rest of their lives with us & our kids.  We never for one second entertained the thought that for each other we would be THAT person.

Mummy & Emmy hijinx

Mummy & Gaby lovin'

If houses had the capacity to think, or to be aware of what goes on between its floor and roof, I would like to think that my house would think it was quite awesome that a big out of the blue love story had played out inside it.  The last year of my life in Cowlishaw Street was the most amazing year of my life, and I think that it's a very happy, positive way to end a variety of eras - the end of MY era in Cowlishaw, the end of mine & Lauriel's single parenting era, but also the end of the 15B Cowlishaw Street era.  I have NO idea when 'my' house will be getting demolished, but feel quite honoured that MY great love story is the last of any story to be experienced and lived, in that house.