That was....

Kelly Tarlton
Auckland Domain
Butterfly's Creek

Was quite tiring but it was good to get him exposed to the bigger world. What we needed though was to be a bit more patient in terms of waiting for him to reply what he sees but I think he was overwhelmed by the environment to begin with and being unfamiliar, mainly on Butterfly's creek coz that was his first time visiting the place.

After a 3 hour nap (had to unintentionally wake him up)

He was a little more engaged, as well as the place had less people so it was definitely more comfortable

Stuff we saw (from top of my head)

• Elephant
• Giraffe
• Zebra
• Otter
• Flamingo
• Ducks
• 
  
• Tractor <---- he="" li="" loved="" most="" the="" this="">
• Boat
• Eggs (fake)
• Bicycle
• Motorbike (sat on it)

Stuff he went crazy

• water
• waterfall
• river
• did i mention water?

I didn't enjoy it too much this round as I barely knew many, and I felt like I was on my own. There were more coming whom I felt familiar, but it felt like a distance at heart. I can't believe the person I was close to was the one I had trouble team teaching with.



Echo when the presenters present, I went real light with strength but I was shaking towards the end where I went out all the way.

They showered us with snacks, fluids and towels so had a break intermittently.

By the time Plyo came about, I was wondering why did I come here to do this haha. Feeling old.

It did feel great after, when walking back to the car and feeling the wonderful after burn I barely had. Felt like a reset to the body. I still would have preferred to do a workshop just coz I am familiar with more instructors. It's a really lonely journey if one doesn't proactively go out to team teach with others. I am keeping on a low at the moment. Keeping everything on a low.

Hesitant to post anything, but if I do it's all for the inspiration and nothing else, for the better of anyone's wellbeing, for the better of society.

Our first ever trip away without little one! Wasn't that far but it was so refreshing I could do with a few more days haha. It was a 3 day, 2 nights stint out at Titirangi via Airbnb at a place which opened itself only last October

The accommodation was amazing and it suits couple type people due to the nature of the house and how it's all set up. We spent the first day on a 4 hour hike (yep,  we were that enthusiastic about hikes) so much so that we were warned out towards the end of the day and snuck out to New Lynn mall for dinner at Goode Brothers and shop for lunch to pack for the next day.


It was sleeping late and waking up late for a change without the need of thinking about the necessities of our little one,  and it really brings back the memories of our past couple type moments. Of course it would get boring after time but this in particular was refreshing. We also had some sort of continental breakfast too at the accommodation place.


Last day we checked out at 11am thanking the host George for being such a great one as he even put in the effort to get us really decent cake for dC's birthday. Off we went to yum Cha before heading home to catch our little one napping. We couldn't see how much he missed us until much later when he surprised me by asking me to carry him and he gave me a big hug. He was chatty and singing.

Definitely saw moments where signs of his character has come out and he's interaction has improved. My parents came over and he noticed them. He asked me for water. He didn't want to be on the baby chair at the restaurant. He finished off the nursery rhymes we sang for him. He now closes his mouth when he kisses. And he eventually replies if we give him a chance to. So our next move is to wait for him to and encourage him.

I'm always haunted by this little melancholy feeling whenever I'm around my little one. The guilt of leaving him, the sadness of watching him grow up, the slight regret of not spending enough time, the incapable emotional endurance of withstanding the frustration if spending more time, the sadness of leaving him with another daycare person, gosh and more to come once school starts. This feeling will always be around and it has grown to be the norm. Still, it's so strong that I can write about it.

So dC decided to take us away on a weekend stint and it was fun! Tiring of course but it was amazing to travel NZ and check out the beaches.

Our goal initially was to hang out at Pakiri beach but we ended up hopping 3 beaches instead haha. Headed to Mahurangi bay first where there wasn't too much wind, some sand and safe enough for ezra to check out the sea water.

As the sun came out we quickly hung out at Goats island. Ezra was so cute when he stood amongst the waves and felt like he was falling backwards when the wave went back. Wasn't there long, 3 mins and off we went to our accommodation. Very well set up so that we don't even need bed sheets and towels! We did bring them.

It was near a walkway too so off we went just down the driveway to check out. Very nice views all around by the cliff as well as we always felt like we were walking into someone's backyard.

Tried Leigh's Eat (famous fish and chips shop), pricey but meal was good overall.

All that over one day. Next day we tried to check out horse riding for li'l E but the storm overnight damaged the site so they were closed. Off we went to see me sis at Kaiwaka (yay). Hung out till E was a little bored of the chickens and mud plus the weather was really crazy (4-in-1 again) so we looked up the swimming pools and dinner.

Ended up at Glenfield Leisure Center (nice place with more than enough family room) and had Korean for dinner at Biwon. There was actually a night market happening next to the Leisure Center and I bumped into a fellow instructor too. Nice facility as well.

Had a couple of launches over the weekend! They have it's ups and downs, from members loving the candle ambiance, to member threatening to cancel membership just because the Air con wasn't cold enough. I learnt to be more resilient and come up with ideas to manage the class coz hey, I cannot do things beyond my control. Only within, the rest I leave to the universe to sort for me.

And......What do you do before your MIL takes off for a month? Go on a date so she can babysit! She did really well actually, didn’t bother us most times but gave her a set of instructions to follow for nap time routine. She did her own way of feeding Ezra by the spoon too. I guess we can manage by mixing things up abit for him. We went on a Thai massage at Golden Fingers first and man the lady I had was SO GOOD. I asked for Golden Thai version and they said it’s their signature mixing between rubs and stretches. She went from top down with some focus in the legs and back. WOW, she used her ENTIRE body on me. Elbows, fingers and even the legs to get into the big muscles (OMG my hamstrings were TIGHT!). And she released my spine and neck with a few clicks (but safe). I could not fall asleep because it was sore in some areas, so nice in others and only a small area was so so. Gosh, if I come back for this I’ll ask for her again. They might have taken their best two for us lol.

We explored Ponsonby together, after deciding out an Argentinian restaurant on Zomato so we finally were in Ponsonby Central at El Chorizo with wood fire steaks. OMG, meat over load but it was so so so so so so sooooooooooooooooooo good. Not often we have HUGE steak ribs coming off the bone so tender and juicy. dC mentioned his craving was finally satisfied as he could not find this in Singapore nor Malaysia. We wandered along the streets checking out new cafes and restaurants and enjoyed ice cream.


 Back to full mode on Sunday. Swim lessons for Ezra (he was abit off this session, and I almost forgot my togs). He’s such a careful boy. We had lunch at Westfield Pakuranga while waiting for our friends for Ambury farm and off we went. Ezra was really constipated the whole session where he finally poop whilst looking at a bunch of letters. He was left behind most times in terms of walking, looking and touching animals. As well as he was really grumpy because he only had half an hour of nap. I didn’t enjoy the trip myself (not sure why).

 Weekends come and gone with the previous one being amazing just coz we had both days with sunshine outside.

So off we went to visit my sis up north, and we also headed out to Mangawhai heads with little one and his playdate. The winds were really blowing but little E was completely ignorant about everything except for water and sand. Belle though had a tough time with her poor eczema condition, so the water and sandy winds were hurting her. We were not there for long but it was just amazing to admire beauty with our kids. We pretty much pushed E’s nap so by the time we got him out we had to be quick and got him dried up. He knocked out in his car and so off we went to my sis’s place where there where chooks and tea made. They are slowly getting one container done by having the kitchen and bathroom set up so watch the live show of getting one side of the container ‘sliced’ for the doors. 


E unusually woke up before 7am the next day, crying to go out. I think he was wanting his swim lessons? No idea but was a late night sleep and an early rise for him. We were finally in the right session for swimming, he was really engaged and it didn’t take long to pick up the new skills he learnt on the spot and it’s amazing to see how much he absorbs in the pool. We were pretty much at home to recover, so I had a nap before teaching my class in the evening. I love weekends like this.

Long weekend!

What did I do what did I do….well, pretty much the usual haha. Loads of kids activities so it started off with a Bang at the movies where Ezra only watched it for a good 5 mins before he got bored. So off I went gallivanting with him up and down the cinema (where he accidently bang his head against a window) and then to the toy shop down the road (where he greedily played with many fire engines). We had lunch (good ole pizza) at Garrisons and caught up with people. And then on was another birthday invite and spontaneous event the next day, bbq at a friend’s place. Will talk about that later in the second paragraph. After that we then took our time to head to my parent’s place where Ezra is getting more confident at running the outskirts of the trampoline. I took the opportunity to take more of his favourite things for speech therapy on Thursday. Dinner was at Mamarich and Ezra too spent time making wonderful mess exploring the food he had.

Sunday started off later in the afternoon, where we head off to a friend’s place who pretty much have everything a little kid can wish for. Really cool toys, a backyard, bbq, 2-storey house with a warm sundeck. Comfy modern living room but little E was a little overwhelmed with the environment. We tried to get the both boys to play with each other but it isn’t happening. And I think little E was a little anxious and feeling the need of being led by me. I had to rush off back for class and came back again which of course took 3 hours since this event was organised spontaneously. Coming back I knew something was gona happen and it was true, Ezra missed me and felt lost even when dC was there. Sigh. And he’s not used to the kids rowdiness since he hasn’t been exposed to playing with them. The only place that he opened up was the bathtub. So he felt much better in the bath with the kids playing side-on with foam.



I’ve never asked for this and I do wish sometimes he appreciates his dad more often. Oh well.

There were more plans on Monday but the weather clouded it on its entirety. So the plans for the beach was scraped and I was sulking because it was my extra day off. So I pushed to go indoors eventhough it’s a short time at Kelly Tarltons. Ezra was grumpy, and I had no idea what he was moaning about all morning (sore stomach I’m guessing) so it was on my nerves. He felt much better when I took him for an hour an abit at Kelly T. He was mesmerised not by penguins (since they stood still on land and floated above water) but the conveyer that took him around the aquarium. He took time to look above (after 2 rounds of running round) before we were told to move onwards. And it took time for him to notice the wet area at the Playland. I pretty much went into the playland with him and he was happily following my lead. Down the slide, up the stair, through the bips and bops and then he was attracted with the numbers and letters on the wall. He admired the fishes in the aquarium (specially those clown and blue fish from Finding Nemo) but of course was attracted to dipping his hand into any aquarium. Gotta come here again :=).


Off to Silo park we went, where we had fish and chips (lousy, remind me not to come into town for that meal) and playing with water and sand. We trained him to walk on different terrains so it was up and down the foothpath hill where he slows down and speeds up. I think it works his reflexes too as he had to co-ordinate and can’t really measure the height of the cement ground. Off home and it was timely for his shower since he pooped lol. We have the usual nursery rhymes in bed, but the lights needs to be off for an hour before he gives into his sleep at 10.30pm.

Yep, no surprises that he woke up at 4.45am this morning hungry but sleepy and pushed me out of bed.