Cynthia & Michael Plus Twins 家有双宝

Today I went to the doctor’s, quite moved when he commented on how few moms these days breastfeed their children for so long, not to mention twins.  But we both agreed it’s about time to wean the boys off breast milk due to the symptoms showing breastfeeding and the way they lay on me for long period of time have been depleting my health. Lin and Li will be turning three in two months so they do not absolutely need my milk from a health point of view.

Michael and I decided to spend the next two months, gradually reduce the feeding time, starting tonight. When it got close to bed time, Lin and Li used sign language and real words asking for milk, I gave them rice milk instead, they drank it right away but started crying a bit for mine. I held their hands and walked them to their bedroom with Michael, gave them lot of hugs and kisses, and told them that it’s time for them to have two feedings rather than three, and they will go to bed at night with daddy without mommy’s milk. They would not let go of me at first, and whined a bit, but after five minutes, they quiet down, both said good night and Lin closed the door.

I am so glad that we told them straight forward why they are not getting milk at night any more, and I was pleasantly surprised how much easier it was than I ever expected. It is one of those moments that I realized how much boys have grown, they can negotiate, rationalize, and accommodate now. After all, maybe I am the one who’s having more trouble with this separation – letting go breastfeeding – one of the best gifts I could possibly give to my children.

A short note to remind my boys, especially when they get older and read this post, that they have broken three Nexus 7 tablets in three months. Now the tablets are all still on the shelf, so no expensive electronic devices for Lin and Li until they know how to take care of their toys!

The week having Charles’ family here at our new place was the best! We were pleasantly surprised that he’d hop over from Melbourn, where he’s on a project for work. Michael had just got his 70% work schedule approved so he only needed to take off Monday.

The week went by so fast, we drove to Wellington to pick them up, the bus schedule was too inconvenient for everyone, glad we did it since we all got to spend some there, Wellington is always fun. Unfortunately Li was running a fever and it was the worst car ride from the airport to the hotel. We decided not to rent a car, so Yiren and Lin sat in the back row, Wenqiong, Charle’s wife and I sat with Li in the middle row then Charles and Michael were in the front. They really got the worst welcome ever, glad that was the rock bottom though.

Everyday was packed, we took them to Pukaha Mount Bruce, and were lucky to see the only white Kiwi bird in the world, Manukura. Kids all had fun there watching the rangers feeding the largest fresh water eel. We also took a trip to Foxton Beach, the New Zealand beach is quite different from those elsewhere, very primitive and natural. Charles said it’s the nicest beach they’d ever been. We also hit all the main playgrounds in Palmy, and were lucky to get on the model train ride at Esplanade on Saturday. On Tuesday, Yiren was able to go to the playcentre with us, she usually gets up at 9am (how lucky for Charles and his wife) so it was a bit struggle for her. We still can’t figure out how Lin and Li’s sleep schedule adjusted to Yiren’s, it’s still a mystery! They usually get up at 7am but the week Charles’ family was here, boys both slept till 8 or 8:30am, but went back to their old habits as soon as they took off. I am still pondering…

The highlight of the visit was definitely the card games, because the kids woke up later, we were able to play card games till 2am. Charles and his wife, very experience Gong Zhu players, taught us how to play this Chinese game. We drew pigs and someone in the end had to crawl on the floor and make pig noise, then tell everyone, I am the pig! It was obviously very entertaining. I am just glad that it wasn’t me 🙂

We were all sad to see them go. It was one of the best time we had since we had children. I was expecting a house full of chaos, dirty dishes everywhere but it turned out with another family under the roof, everybody helps with the workload. Wenqiong and I were able to make the noodles from scratch (I’d never had the time to do that if I were home alone with the boys), she and Charles went out for dinner on their own Thursday evening, and I didn’t know that was the first date for them after Yiren was born. She’s a little adorable girl, and she was so easy! She’s not shy, not difficult, sleeps and eats really well, and doesn’t cry that loud. I can watch five of her no problem. Anyway, my point is this whole week of spending time together all the time made me think our modern lifestyle is really not practical – as parents, we have to do every little thing, which consumes most of our time, I wish sometimes we could go back in time, and really have the village to raise the children together, it just makes a lot of sense and much more beneficial for our children.

Oh did I mention that they came on a weekend when Palmy has one of its best event – Festival of Cultures, so yes we were really in luck for tasting international foods, performances and arts.

Well I shall start my story by announcing the good news first, this is our new home, and it’s finally a home that we are comfortable living in. I always took it for granted since the houses we lived in have always been nice, not until we got into the housing crisis which lasted two LONG months, had I realized the importance of having a stable and comfortable house to call home.

The newest rental we have is located near Victoria Ave and Park Rd, very close distance to city center, and within walking distance to Esplanade, Lido and even the Square. The owner is a builder who built it two years ago for himself, he acquired another house and moved in with his new partner so we are hoping that they have a long and loving relationship! It has an air-conditioner/heat pump, double glazing, ceiling, wall and floor (with polystyrene) insulation, underfloor heating, fully fenced, built-in night lights with sensors, central vacuum system, built-in sound system for living room, master bedroom, and garage, built-in multi-media closet, wall mount with an arm for flat screen TV, huge attic space for storage, etc. Overall, a very well thought-out and designed home. Michael used one of the four bedrooms as his office and everything just fit in quite lovely. Even our furniture, they look like they were made for this house, for it’s modern, clean color tones. One can only appreciate it so much if he/she lives in New Zealand and understands the housing situation here.

I immediately noticed that the boys and I can stay home instead of going out to be entertained, they can play in the yard, in the house and it’s comfortable with the air-conditioner on. At Balcairn Pl, it was so hot in the day we were heading to the beach every other day during the week then it got so cold at night , we had to use our portable heat pump. We sure got lucky with this one!

Jan 29th, 2013

Weather has been really hot so we decided to try out Foxton Beach. It turned out Foxton is even nicer than Himatangi, for couple of reasons, there’s a huge parking lot above the beach so there were much less cars ON the beach, safer for the boys, and there’re showers and water to wash after getting all muddy. It’s only about 35 minutes drive from city centre so about the same distance as to Himatangi.

Boys didn’t play in the water much, instead they were fascinated by the puddle Michael made, and they each had one.  I just enjoyed so much watching him run around and being silly. And I finally snapped a picture of me and Michael in the car 🙂

2 1/2 is a great age, boys are on a very good but different routine. They sleep exactly 12 hours a day (for 2-year-old it’s between 12~14 hours) 3 hours in the afternoon and 9:30pm to 6:30am. Lin and Li get the breast milk three times a day now, upon waking up, nap and before bed. It works out fine for all of us, which is great.

This summer holiday which lasted almost 6 weeks by now has been wonderful. It is getting more and more challenging on my part to keep them entertained. Lin and Li are not content being in the pram for more than a short ride, they want to walk, sit in the adult’s chair, and feed themselves. It’s an interesting time when they want to be independent but they don’t understand how to stay safe yet. I find it helpful to hang out with other children, not when they are playing since there’s still much parallel playing going on but more with older children. For example they would hold Stanley and Jack’s hands when we were crossing the street but not mine. Mom must be this annoying person who keeps them away from fun things all the time, so any chance they have to escape you can count on them to jump on it! As a matter of fact, it must be their favorite game to have mom chasing them for changing diaper, putting on PJs, and dragging them away from cars.

I’ve been taking them to the weekly holiday session at Milson playcentre, I do the new person fitting in thing and they jump right into playing there; Michael and I took them to Wellington the weekend before, they loved the StoryPlace at Te Papa and Junglerama followed by a feast at Nature Vegetarian Food; they spend almost every morning outdoor: Esplanade, playgrounds, Te Manawa; and on rainy days we go to the Lido or Lollipop. Palmy is really ideal for raising young children I would not want to be elsewhere for sure.

Today after work, we went to Downtown Shopping Center for dinner and bubble tea, boys climbed up on a tree for the first time, Lin now likes to pose for me in front of the camera 🙂

Pohangina Valley Blueberry Farm didn’t have as much berries as they did in previous years but still I was able to get enough for the year with the help of Michael and Elaine. Lin and Li are absolutely crazy about blueberries!

Esplanade can always be counted on, great gardens, great playgrounds, and great walking trails.

And sometimes they helped me hanging up the clothes…and play with their tablets.

Li at Milson Playcentre, fighting over the driver seat at Junglerama Lower Hutt, Snack time at the Plaza and at Te Manawa,

Yesterday I was brilliant to leave behind the most important bag, which was packed with everyone’s swimwear, boys’ diapers and towels. So boys got all wet in their day clothes…the car was full of sand and boys went naked all the way home. It was okay though that we kept it quite low maintenance. Today we decided to go again, with proper gear of course! Honestly I don’t think the boys (including Michael) cared a bit.

I have to confess, maybe it was because I didn’t grow up near ocean and I’ve always been afraid of water in darkness, beach is not my cup of tea. My best memory of a beach was in Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica, I even stayed overnight right on the beach in a tent, the soothing sound of waves was nice and the view was amazing, walking on the white sand early in the morning, having the ocean on one side (after the sun was out, of course) and the rainforest on the other.

This best beach experience was replaced, now, at Himatangi Beach. I learned from Danielle the other day, that the closest beach from Palmerston North is about 30 minutes away. Keep in mind that the most inland point from the beach in New Zealand is 119.44km (or 74 miles) therefore per New Zealand standards, its pretty far (lol). It was one of those spontaneous moments that I called up Michael right around 5pm and asked if he wanted to go to the beach, he was keen so I packed all the clothing and the boys and went.

Himatagni was not the usual tourist spot, quiet, primitive, no shower stands, just a beach where you can still drive on, and take the dogs, kids, whatever. It was definitely the boys that made the whole time of one hour filled with joy. They were so excited, running wild, testing the water (literally), splashing mud around, picking up rocks and chewing them…and they did the sign language for swim just before bed, still begging!