Week 79 has been peppered with all of Joseph's new words...it seems to be about a word a day...eyes, star, plane, up, down, baa baa (for sheep), truck, choo choo (when he's pushing a train around), toot toot and "roll, roll, roll" from his Diggers book.

Dan and I went to a first aid course at Bear Park on Wednesday night, something we probably should have done when Joseph was first born. At least we know what to do now when it comes to CPR, choking and broken bones.

We were lucky enough to borrow Phil and Jo's bach in Piha over the weekend and we went out on Friday afternoon (Dan took a half day from work). We had a great time and some very nice weather. Joseph loved the beach - the sea and the sand...and had a couple of meltdowns when we had to forcibly remove him from the beach.

There is a new playground near the camping ground which we spent a little bit of time out...here is Joseph being the captain of the "Sea Scout".

We had fish and chips on the deck on Saturday afternoon, just managing to catch the last of the sun. Joseph didn't eat any fish but quite enjoyed the very salty chips.

He also didn't mind a bit of Dan's beer!

Continuing the theme from last week, here's another picture of Joseph and me.

Finally, I've alluded to Joseph's gatecrashing ability...here's some photographic evidence. This large family group were constructing trenches and castles between the lagoon and the beach and Joseph rocked up and started to "help". To their credit, they let him join in. He was absorbed for an hour or so and he ended up getting so wet that we had to take off all his clothes and then he had black sand everywhere (and it is all over the car now too!). He slept for three hours on Sunday afternoon - he was so knackered.

There weren't many photos taken to mark week 78 of our life with Joseph...he seems to have recovered well from the grommets operation but the check up with Bruce (GP) revealed a possible recurrence of the chest infection...he suggested using the puffers again but we're still stalling on that.

Here's a rare picture of Joseph and me...having breakfast together last Tuesday morning. We've been using a booster seat so Joseph can sit at the table with us so I think the high chair might be put away soon.

We were going to get Joseph a trike for Christmas but have had to fast track this purchase as he has been gatecrashing gatherings at Cornwall Park to use other families' toys (and eat their food and playing with their balls...this also includes tantrums when Dan drags him away)...so, on Sunday, Joseph became the proud owner of this red, blue and yellow trike.

Unfortunately, for us, he now prefers this to his ride-on motorbike and he wants us to push him around (as illustrated when we got home from work/daycare today and he spied his trike). It shouldn't be long until he gets the hang of the pedals though.

We continue to take advantage of Joseph's interest in sweeping and put him to work helping Dan clean up the garage on Sunday afternoon.

Week 77 was the week Joseph had his grommet operation...this happened on Thursday 6th September. We had a very early start, needing to be at the hospital at 7am. The worst part for Joseph ended up being the fast from midnight. I don't think he's ever been denied food for so long (although he ended up breaking the fast with a bottle at 7.45am.

I carried Joseph into the theatre and was surprised to see about eight nurses gathered (as well as the anaesthetist), I stayed with him until he went to sleep and then was shown to the recovery lounge where I waited - but only for about 20 minutes and then Mr Baber appeared at my side to say the operation had gone very well and that it had been well worth doing as Joseph had had a lot of fluid/mucous in his ears.

Jenny, the recovery nurse, thought Joseph might like some jelly and ice cream to help him feel better. It did indeed and he ended up scoffing it!


So, since Thursday, Joseph has been eating like an absolute man possessed - he's been very happy. We think he might be doing more "talking" but who knows whether that is due to the grommets or being fully recovered?!

Here's some pics of Joseph eating the cheese today...he couldn't quite wait to get it to the bench for me to cut a slice for him (bad parenting I know!).




And finally, here's a pic of our big boy looking super cute (in a farm boy kind of way!).

Week 76 saw the beginning of a very bad health breakdown for the Warren family. Joseph's ear infection came back - along with a temperature and conjunctivitis. So, we did the right thing and kept him home from Bear Park for what ended up being a week...we tried to go back to see Mr Baber (ENT surgeon) but his nurse recommended that we book in for grommets. We kept him home so that he would be in the best shape possible for the operation.

In the meantime, I came down with conjunctivitis as well as tonsilitis (the GP did suspect glandular fever but that blood test came back negative) and Dan had to look after the entire family. It was a bit of a nightmare to be honest.

Joseph and Dan went to the park every day, sometimes twice a day. Joseph has really got into the animals and now makes the right noises - mooing, baaing, neighing and crowing. It it quite sweet.

Here's a selection of pics showing Joseph "talking" to the chickens.




There are lots of interesting people in the park who are always up for a chat. Here's Joseph getting to know some malamutes.

Week 75 saw the completion of Joseph's transition to the Moreporks' room as he started having his afternoon sleep in the big room with the other Moreporks and not in his cot in the Fantails' sleep room. We were a bit suspicious of how this would go as Joseph is not known for his daytime sleeps but we have been very surprised at the duration (1.5 hours each day)!

We had two visits to the doctors this week. First up on Wednesday was our visit to Bill Baber, the ENT specialist. Joseph received a month's reprieve for grommets as Bill said his recent ear infection history was very short. So, while there is fluid present, he's not desperate for grommets. I delivered this news a Bruce, our GP, on Thursday morning and he expressed surprise that Joseph has the month extension. So, we're back to see Bruce in three weeks and then to Bill in four.

Joseph has been doing some great eating this week and here's a selection of shots...

1. Breakfast last Monday...having some porridge and finishing off Dan's smoothie...all with his beanie on.

2. Fish fingers on Friday night...devoured them after a big week at Bear Park.

3. We made pizza on Saturday night and Joseph helped (although he ate more of the raw ingredients than when it was cooked!)


In terms of physical skills, climbing is very popular at the moment, he'll try to get up on anything really. He has also taken to standing on his turquoise truck but he fell onto it tonight so we've had to put that away for a couple of weeks while he gets his balance sorted (and the bump over his eye goes down!).

Week 74 saw Dan and I sick with Joseph's flu but the monkey pants recovering well. We had another trip to the doctor resulting in the continuation of the asthma diagnosis and my ongoing non-adminstration of the 5x ventolin puffers per day. Joseph has been back at daycare, sleeping through the night and, as of Friday, eating like a man possessed.

A few months ago Joseph was obsessed with a cardboard box, now he is very keen on his gumboots and his beanie. So much so that he wears his beanie as soon as he gets up and twice this week I have picked him up from Bear Park and he still has it on from when they had been playing outside. Apparently he insists on having it put on when they go out. Here is a shot of Joseph being a mini-me on Friday morning...Dan had his beanie on and Joseph was desperate to have his on as well!

Joseph also loves the transportation genre (cars, trucks, motorbikes, trains etc) and we spend lots of time reading books about cars et al, looking/pointing at them when we're in the car and Dan made it all come to life for Joseph on Saturday afternoon when they went to Cornwall Park for a run around. There are some roadworks going on in the park and Joseph was able to get up close to all manner of machinery. Here he is on the digger and the tractor.


Spring is slowly making her presence felt in Auckland...especially in Cornwall Park with lots of spring flowers out but also newborn lambs and calves. Here is Joseph in front of a baby calf (he had been rattling the wire fence trying to get their attention!) but as you can see from this photo...he's also trying to put his beanie on!

The Warren family had a very low profile in week 73 as Joseph took sick on the Tuesday...the double whammy of an ear (again!) and a chest infection. We had a very miserable little monkey pants and it is only now (Monday 13th) that he is getting back to normal. Dan and I have also caught a few of his bugs and we haven't been feeling too flash ourselves. As a consequence, there are very few photos to document the week!

We're going back to see Dr Bill Baber on Wednesday 22 August (he's the ENT surgeon) for a grommet assessment. It seems highly likely that Joseph will get them. We've been to the GP four times in the last week and now he's trying to tell me that Joseph has asthma and that he should be on Ventolin (puffers) five times a day - I'm not too keen on that to be honest so I'm ignoring that advice at the moment.

But, here's a pic of Joseph looking super cute before he went to daycare last Tuesday (it all went downhill after this!). The camo top is from Grandma Milly.

The week at home has served as a bit of "hot house home schooling" as we've read thousands of books and now Joseph can point to his nose (and say nose); knows that picture of a horse means you say neigh and a cow = moo and a train = toot toot! He also likes walking backwards and backing into things and he likes to give kisses (which is probably how Dan and I ended up with his cold!).

We did get Joseph out and about on the weekend and here he is helping Dan in the garden.

Finally, he went back to Bear Park today but I picked him up early to take him to the GP and we got home in time for a bit of a ride around in the late afternoon sun.

Week 72 saw us back to reality with lots of rain and back to work/Bear Park! However the biggest thing that happened to Joseph this week was his first proper haircut on Saturday. I took him down to Lisa who cuts my hair. We had quite a few comments in Brisbane/Noosa that Joseph was a girl so that accelerated our decision to get it done (I was going to wait until the spring).

So, we've gone from this:


To this...our big grown up boy!

I did some baking on Saturday afternoon and Joseph has inherited Dan's sweet tooth!

Here's a cute pic of my two boys reading on the couch.

Finally, we took Joseph for a bit of a run around in the Domain this afternoon and popped into the museum for a quick look. He loves the echo that his voice could make and was very keen to go to all the places he shouldn't (basically stairs or anything roped off!

Week 71 saw us enjoying our escape from the wet Auckland winter to sunny (and extremely dry) Brisbane. Joseph loved the airport and looking out the windows at everything going on - lots of pointing and asking about "dat?".

We stayed with Mum and Dad for a couple of days where Joseph got thoroughly spoilt with another (belated) birthday cake and lots of new books. We then headed up to Aunty Di's and Uncle Ben's for a catch up with the Ashley family. Here Joseph got to play with Sylvie (Melissa and Brett's nearly three year old daughter - Joseph's third cousin).

Well, actually, Sylvie was controlling the social interaction! Poor old Joseph got a bit of a fright when she put all these balloons into his cot as he was going off to sleep. He was inconsolable after that and ended up sleeping with me in the double bed and Dan had to squeeze into a single!

We then headed to Noosa and our mansion in Little Cove...we spent lots of time at the beach (photos below). Midweek when we were waiting for Mum to arrive from Brisbane, Dan, Joseph and I went out for breakfast. Joseph loved the whole experience - sitting up at the table, enjoying the froth from both Dan's flat white and my hot chocolate, scoffing the corn friiters (mine) and pancakes (Dan's). He even swiped the marshmallows from my hot choc when I wasn't looking!

On the Friday, we had another influx of visitors...Matt up from Sydney and Jules and Vikki from Brisbane. Joseph was very lucky to have both his Godparents around. We had a great night out that night (thanks to Mum at home babysitting). The next day Dan and Matt did some training and Jules, Vikki and I went for a walk in the National Park.

Week 71 - I'm going to do Noosa in two parts - the first other things we did and the second all about the beach.

Here's a selection of shots of J enjoying the winter sun!

This is on the first day we arrived checking out the beach conditions in the National Park.

We spent quite a bit of time at Little Cove as it was just down the road from where we were staying. Joseph absolutely loved the sand and the water. We liked it too as it completely tired him out!!

I was a bit of a bad mother and this is the only day (near the end of our stay) that Joseph actually kept his hat on (but he was always well covered with his rash vest!).

Here's a shot of me and Joseph taken at the main beach late in the afternoon before we packed up for the day and headed home for dinner.

This is going to be a big catch up blog session as I've got three to make up...so for Week 70 (w/c 15 July), Joseph started full time in the Morepork's room...here he is with Indie.



It has been quite a big adjustment for Joseph as he has to learn that he doesn't head off with the babies at 9.30am! He's cried quite a few mornings when I dropped him off but I was assured that he had a good time during the day once he settled down.

Joseph has been developing quite a keen interest in lids and here is a sequence of him one night after work as I was getting his ham sandwich ready (he ended up eating dinner at the bench~). First he reached in and grabbed the ham, then stuffed it in his mouth and finally, put the lid on and then looked for more!

We had a very exciting week 69 when a huge storm came blowing in and we had no power on Tuesday night. Dan and Joseph had dinner by candlelight (crackers and cheese, raisins, yoghurt and banana) and then Joseph had a bath by candlelight. Joseph was oohing and aahing and pointing at the candles. He wasn't even fazed by the cold bottle!

Joseph has learnt that his turquoise truck is actually a dump truck and now likes to pull the dumper bit up and sit on the tray. He doesn't move around on it or anything like that, just sits there looking cute.

On the weekend Dan and I swapped our sofas over and put Joseph on the navy one so he would be out of the way...he looks so big compared to when I used to put him there before he could sit up on his own!

Today, Monday 16th, was Joseph's first day as a morepork. He's graduated from the fantail room at Bear Park and is now with the big kids (those aged c.18 months - 3 years) and seems to be loving it. He even slept for 3 hours today which I think it a record for Joseph when it comes to daytime sleeps. His ear infection is back plus he has a runny nose so perhaps that explains the tiredness! I will get some photos of Joseph in his new environment and post those.

It will be a couple of weeks before the next post as the three of us are off to Brisbane/Noosa from Friday 20th - Monday 30th. Stay tuned for lots of beach photos - I've bought Joseph some boardies and a rash vest (which I'm hoping will fit his puku!)