Fatherhood Friday 13: A Week of Random Occurances.
At last! The colds seem to be going away! Yay!
On the down side it seems to be getting quite a lot colder… yay winter… not.
Me and Emily are heading down south this weekend to go and see the grandparents who are currently living on Coronet Peak ski area. This will be Emily’s first real experience of snow and should prove to be a weekend of highs and hanging out with the whanau.
Amanda and Samantha get to stay at home and have some alone time.
Anyway on to the random occurences:
Being yelled at by a road work stop/go person (you know the ones who have the signs to make traffic stop or go) for not going even though their sign was on stop.
Being asked how old my “son” was even though she was dressed entirely in pink (and I mean pretty much all over pink).
A random log of wood rolling down a hill just as I was driving past and slamming into the side of the car (luckily it just hit the wheel so no damage done).
Customers at work trying to return Passport photos because they didn’t realise how easy it was to do themselves (because they were both “photographers”).
Sorry that kinda almost turned into a rant and kinda didn’t really have much to do with kids (except the pink one) but im done now… Honest.
Emily:
Emily has been steadily getting better after antibiotics and is so excited about going on a plane and going skiing that she is having trouble focusing on anything for very long. At her crèche they played the kids a cartoon version of “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” which has led to a few nights of very unsettled sleep (admittedly they did send an email home saying that they were going to) and is it just me or does that seem a little too scary for 4 year olds?
Emily in the not yet completed “Bike Track” mud puddle.
Samantha:
Has worked out that I have been using a decoy book in order to stop her taking out my bookmark and has resumed hunting it down and me spending 5-10 minutes a day trying to find out where I am up to.
She is continuing to pick up words on almost a daily basis although her favourite still seems to be “hot hot hot”.
She is also showing a tenacity unparalleled in human existence which means that she will continually go back to something (TV, wall plugs, food on the floor, anything that is Emily’s) over and over and over again, even if you put her into a different room and tell her “No”.
Her favourite place at the moment seems to be under the table, mostly because its hard for me to get under. She sits there and laughs at me as I try to coax her out without me having to go under myself. It usually ends by her banging her head on a chair, crying and coming out in order to be cuddled.
Sam in her All-in-One ski suit…Oh and Amanda’s in there too.
Nikon F5, 50mm f1.8mm Lens, Ilford HP5 400 ISO film.
Fatherhood Friday 12:
Still inundated with colds… Emily is now on antibiotics and it sounds like we are a house full of smokers… a coughing symphony if you will.
Emily and I are going skiing in a couple of weeks (yes I have already worked out what camera equipment I am going to take) and Grandma and Grandad sent Emily up some mittens and goggles hence the photo. Thank you Grandma and Grandad! We are both looking forward to coming down to see you.
Samantha: Seems to be the most healthy one here and is getting into as many things as possible while the rest of us are being a bit slow to react.
Both pictures from this morning
Nikon D70s, 50mm f1.8 Lens, ISO 200. f1.8 at 1/200th of a second.
Fatherhood Friday 11: We like books… Sometimes to Eat.
Colds,colds,colds, colds with a slight outlook for COLDS! Will they ever go away? Even the weather has taken a steep dive towards winter.
At breakfast this morning we sound like a household of chain smokers with pretty much everyone having a cough of some sort.
Emily: With all the bad weather we havent been able to get out and have a run round much this week so even with a cold Emily still has energy to burn.
Emily said something Hilarious earlier this week, but I forgot to write it down, and when I asked Amanda what it was she looked kinda annoyed and wouldn’t tell me so I’m assuming it was partly to do with her. Hopefully my brain will kick into gear and spit it out later on.
Samantha: Favorite place to be this week has been sitting in front of the book shelf looking at books, pulling washing of the clothes dryer and staring out the window at birds.
Has reverted back to waking up every other hour at night so we are waiting for her to get a bit better before having to “break” her sleeping habits again.
New word for the week: “ook”
“Must get more ooks!”
“Im sure there are more “ooks” in here somewhere…Wait?… is that a lion?”
Nikon D70s, 18-70mm Lens, ISO 200, Nikon Sb80DX Speedlite. f4.5 at 1/30th second with Speedlite at full power bounced off the ceiling.
Fatherhood Friday 10: Sam Likes Steak
Once again colds featured a lot this week (welcome to winter) and there has been a fair bit of tired and grumpy behaviour all round.
Samantha: Still learning words at a rapid rate of fire. The current cold has made her lose her voice so when she tries to scream pretty much nothing comes out and she gets a very confused look on her face (which is amusing but also kinda a bit sad) so the house has been a bit quieter this week.
She is also attempting to stand on her own by putting herself up on things and then letting go to stand unassisted.
New phrase of the week: “uh oh”
Sam Likes Steak
Emily: Aside from having a cold, Emily has been pretty well-behaved this week. One of the highlights has been watching Emily and Samantha chasing each other round the house while laughing and squealing with delight. unfortunately the cold and rainy weather has ment we have had to stay inside and she is getting to the point where she needs a bit of a run around to burn off some energy but I don’t want to take her out because she still has a cold and something resembling a smokers cough.
Scary Emily
Fatherhood Friday 9: Emily Counts to Hungry
Survived Emily’s birthday party last weekend with only minor injuries (mostly mental ones to me) and managed to get things back to normal in only a couple of days. Possibly scared some of the kids into believing there actually were pirates in our back garden but they felt better when they found the “pirates” gold coins that were made of chocolate, I’m sure their parents probably hate me now after sending their kids back overhyped on sugar.
Colds were the order of the week with Emily bringing one home and sharing it round everyone here (not really her fault but was amusing that one day only Emily had a cold and the next day we all had one).
Emily Quote of the week: “96…97…98…99…. I’m Hungry”
Emily riding her running bike round the, still being constructed, bike track.
Samantha: Copious amounts of Snot. Has been literally getting into everything and I mean EVERYTHING! She has worked out how to open cupboards and drawers and is showing much interest in CDs and the things under the television. You can say “no” move her away and watch as she goes straight back to what she was doing.
Word of the week: “Hot” used continuously for almost half an hour after making a grab for a cup of tea that Amanda was drinking.
Samantha at Lollypops Playland on Emily’s birthday.
Fatherhood Friday 8: Birthday done but party Saturday
Survived Emily’s birthday last Friday (she even managed to sleep in til 715 which is around 45 minutes more sleep than usual). She had a great day with far too many presents then going to an indoor playground with a friend and then a dinner party with all her adult friends and more presents.
The thought of having 10 to 12 four-year olds round for a party is somewhat daunting and is becoming a logistical nightmare which will be worse if it rains on Saturday like it is supposed to. The things we do! Hopefully this isn’t setting the bar too high for all birthdays that are still to come.
Now that she is 4 her most common saying has turned into “I know that!” about most things so apparently when you turn 4 you now know everything about everything.
Emily on Car Ride at Karori Carnival
Samantha: Getting even faster with crawling and getting better at pulling herself up on furniture and walking along it. Also getting better at disappearing and turning up in places she isn’t supposed to be, such as CD shelves, power cords, book shelves, heaters etc…
She also seems to be learning words (not proper words but understandable what she means) at a very fast rate of a couple of new ones per day.
Not too much mischief this week from either 🙂
Sorry about old pic but didn’t get a chance to develop the 2 black and white films I shot last week which had some pics of the girls on them… Hopefully will sort after the party madness.
Fatherhood Friday 7: Emily turns 4
Happy Birthday Emily, 4 today!
Emilys definition of a superhero is: Someone who is Very Big, Very Old and Just About to Die… These are the only time you are allowed to be super.
Emily is very excited and possibly hasnt slept for the last 2-3 days and talking non stop. She told a friend of ours that he had to get her a present for her birthday that wasnt too expensive unless he was rich cause then it would be OK to get her an expensive present.
Slightly Rumpled Fairy
Sam: This week Sam has become a bookmark thief, I have seriously reread the same page of my book 16 or 17 times. Possibly time for a new bookmark or a better place to put my book.
Word of the week “No!” also first possible sentence: “No Ta Dadda” when she didnt want to give me the toy she was playing with.
Sam with Walking Assistance
Fatherhood Friday 6 Emily Plays Drums
All I can say is It seemed like a good idea at the time
A much more sleepfull week this week with Samantha having adjusted to the new sleeping regime.
Nickname of the week: Samington Lamington
Fatherhood Friday 5. Emily Lion and the week we broke Samantha
Another tough week although not as bad as it could have been.
Sam has been waking up 7 or 8 times a night to be fed or settled and this week we decided that we had had enough and it was time for a bit of “tough love” to recover our sanity which had been slipping a bit over the last couple of weeks.
The plan was to start on Sunday and not feed her between 11pm and 5am, this involved me getting up from 11 to just settle and put Sam back to sleep.
Night 1: Fed 3 times before 11pm… Woke at 1am and screamed for 30 minutes then went to sleep… Woke at 3am and screamed for 45 minutes…Woke 5am, Fed went back to sleep till 630am
Night 2: Fed 2 times before 11pm… Woke at 130am and screamed for 10 minutes… Woke at 3am cried for 10 minutes… Woke 5am, Fed and went back to sleep till 6am
Night 3: Fed 1 time before 11pm…Woke 130am…Cried 30 seconds went back to sleep… Woke 5am, Fed and went back to sleep till 645
Last Night: 1st feed 1120pm… Woke 130am for 5 minutes… Bit restless but slept til 615am
Hopefully this improvement continues!
Emily Lion
Come into the Light
This is a really quick mock up of an idea for a shot… It needs another speedlight to come from behind the girls to ballance things up a bit an reduce the all encompasing red a bit.
I like how Sam is going “Here I come!”
Fatherhood Friday 4 Sam only eats things that are small and round
Crap forgot that it was Friday today… Bout sums up my week…Better late than never.
This week Emily is starting to get excited because her birthday is not too far away.
She has been feeling a bit attention starved since Samantha has had a bit of a grumpy week.
Samantha has started refusing all food that she cant feed to her self and current favourites are peas and blueberrys.
Has been constantly grumpy and a little unsettled this week which included a half hour screaming session when she woke early one night and Amanda was out swimming… Probably due to more teeth and Daylight Savings.
Lets hope for a better week next week.
All things going well I will finally have a couple of days to concentrate on photography next week and scoping of rentable darkroom may be on the cards.
Happy Easter and Fatherhood Friday 3
Since having kids I have found myself adopting or making up phrases, here are a sample of a few I seem to use the most:
Less talk more walk
Lets go monkeyo
Faster like Pasta
Red man, red man, wait, wait, wait… Thanks Amy
Sam: now crawling and into everything shes not supposed to be
Taken with Nikon D70s 50mm f1.8 Nikon SB80 Speedlite at 1/2 power bounced off the ceilling
As well I have started spontaneously singing at random times when with my kids, usually at the supermarket or similar. Top hits include:
Move it, Move it
Creep… Minus swearing sometimes
Hakuna matata (The Lion King)
It is also worrying when your wife borrows your 3 year olds accessories (in this case a scarf) and even though they asked if said 3 year old wanted to wear them and were told no a tantrum enschews because she now wants to wear it herself. This is a situation I have never even dreamed that would have to be resolved.
Monday night Highlight… Having to use hiemlich maneuver on wife choking on steak
Emily: Currently has cough, cold and high temperature
Taken last year with Nikon F5 50mm f1.8 and Ilford Delta 400
Fatherhood Friday 2
Just finished developing these last night (yay black and white film)
All I can say is “when the heck did you grow up so much?!
This picture really sums up Samantha in my opinion “its all about me!” It is possible at 9 months that she has a diabolical plan to rule the world.
This is a picture of Emily posing, not quite sure what she’s being… I only put it in because one of this weeks big things was watching them cut down the trees that she is standing in front of…Those pics with action sequences of trees being felled coming soon 🙂
Darkhalide Photography 
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