Watching Pyper grow up is both exciting and scary at the same time, recently we have seen her really start to take everything in, today Renee was picking her nose and then Pyper started to touch her nose, tonight I was in another part of the house, and I heard a little girl on the ground crawling, I called out Pyper and before I knew it she was coming through the door and she had a big smile on her face. She also came over to me whilst I was in the kitchen and gave me some tissues, this was really cute as she crawled over to me gave them to me and then i took them from her and then, I gave them back a few minutes later!

The more we speak to her the more she really understands what is going on and what things are all about.

- Scott

This week I was reminded that being a father is a priviledge and not a right. I remember thinking that in disgust that violence against children is something that needs to stop and it needs to be stopped ASAP so why isn’t it? Why is violence towards children especially in a small country like New Zealand occurring on an ongoing basis.

I found this article which made me mad and also want to do something about it and addressing it and not sweeping it under the carpet is something that I want to make sure happens.

- Scott

Three children repeatedly beaten with a broom handle were so hungry they had to rummage in rubbish bins, and yet neighbours were too scared to report the cruelty they witnessed.

Kylie Tekani, 30, of Porirua, has been sentenced in Wellington District Court to eight months' home detention after pleading guilty to three charges of cruelty to a child and assault with a weapon. ... read more >>

53% of couples don’t know the best time of the month to conceive (it’s one or two days before ovulation)
Source Clearblue Fertility Monitor

33% of dads took more than two weeks paternity leave in 2005
Source Office for National Statistics UK

59% of parents say their kids behaviour in the car ruins their concentration when driving
Source Kia Motors

31% of parents think their pre-schooler would like to be a performer when they grow up.
Source lunar Jim C Beebies programme

5 hours and 41 minutes a day is the average time new mums spend staring at their baby
Source Babies R Us

59% of parents have been given baby gifts by strangers
Source Toys R Us

45% of babies say “daddy” first while 35% say mummy first perhaps because they hear women saying “daddy” more often
Source Pampers

44 million toys are thrown away in the UK every year ... read more >>

I have days that I feel like i could just stay in bed but with a little one two words come to mind – “good” and “luck”! So when I get home no matter what she is doing I will make sure I go and play with her, unless she is sleeping or eating. Like most little ones she loves to play with her food but I’m not allowed to play too much with her at this time as we seem to both get loud and get in trouble.

So once she has finished I make she gets down on the ground and then I will call her down the hall way and we will play “racing” and what racing is, is I will throw one of her toys 10 M in front of her and then will start crawling next to her as if it was a race and she absolutely loves the challenge, she races with me as we are both crawling flat out, and she has her little head down and snorting like a “little piggy”, I’m smiling just thinking of it as I write. Funnily enough she always seems to win and then we turn around and do it on the way back. ... read more >>

I take Pyper to day care just about every time she has to go, we love it – I “dress her down” and “why is that” my wife asks?? Well I don’t want the other kids to feel inadequate because she is so beautiful I say in a half joking, cavalier attitude type voice!! Now my wife is very beautiful – well to me anyway, and I think because of her we have a beautiful looking little girl also. We have some polorfleece type material clothes for Pyper and they keep her warm when she is at daycare, but what i have noticed lately is that we haven’t actually ever cut her hair, we trim her nails and they grow like wild fire, and because I dress her in the same clothes everytime she goes to day care, I kept getting asked why don’t you dress her in the cute clothes that we brought for her? I usually do when I know we are going out,but apart from that then we just we the same stuff different day. ... read more >>

I have been a little bit worried after being told by my wife that we need to make sure that we are doing all we can with Pyper, and so sometimes as a male I forget things to do with her, or activities that I plan get pushed to the back burner because of weather or a change in events etc. Now this might look like for example taking pyper to the indoor pools and taking her swimming, or playing with her inside or giving her pegs to put in the box, no matter what we think everyday is a new adventure and they love everything. My problem is letting her do anything, and by this basically I will let her try most things once, except playing with a python, knives, grenades, or other such death defying instruments. ... read more >>

This week I found it completely challenging – I had some urgent business work that needed my attention and then on Wednesday my wife went into hospital for surgery, luckily we had Renee’s parents come down to help look after our little girl Pyper, they love her to bits but without their help I would have been absolutely stuffed to be honest. I had a lot of problems going on that I had to make sure that Renee and Pyper would be looked after also.

So what happens when you know your going to be caught out and you just don’t have anyone to look after your little one, when your partner is either sick or cant help. Well call on friends is the biggest one, I make sure that i can lend a hand with some of our other friends and their children, because I am going to need to ask for the favour very soon.

Secondly don’t be afraid to look for a baby sitter, its stressful enough without thinking your the “Lone Ranger” ... read more >>

Mince Baskets

Suitable for toddlers

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Basic Mince Mixture - Ingredients

1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
500g lean beef or lamb mince
2 Tbsp tomato purée
420g jar pasta sauce
1 tsp mixed herbs or 1 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (optional)
8 slices fresh bread, crusts removed

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan, and cook the onion gently for 5-6 minutes, until tender. Add the mince, breaking up with the back of a spoon to form small pieces until cooked thoroughly and no longer pink. Stir in tomato purée, canned tomatoes and herbs. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes until reduced and thick, but still moist. Set aside. ... read more >>

Well nappy rash isn’t a very aesthetic looking thing and the only problem being it must be painful rubbing up against her skin and the nappy! So we have a few options, and since we found out that Pyper like most little people get nappy rash.

We had a product called sudocream and this is an zinc based product that treats the affected area well ,but we still found after a few times it still didn’t clear up the infected area.

But we came across a new Nappy rash cream called Weleda Nappy Rash Relief Cream, of which it has worked a treat.

It’s hard to give it a real rating with pros and cons but compared to Bayer Bepanthum which is also another relief cream, then it’s fantastic. ... read more >>

Hmm that is a mouthful of a title it’s like how many woodchucks could a ..... you get the picture!

Anyway Pyper has 1 Nana who lives in Australia and 1 Gan who lives in NZ and 1 Pop that lives in NZ also. And they all love her to bits which is fantastic, and the question I ask myself is do they parent our children like they wished they had parented us? Where they unsure about what they were doing when they had us, that perhaps that over time they have built up confidence with children, that its second nature to be hands on and giving of their time to our children when perhaps they couldn’t do it when they were younger and working to make a better life for us??

I know my mother is completely different to Pyper then she ever would have been to me, and I see that in my wife’s father also.

I just wonder why our parents wait so long to parent like this when they could do it from the start!

- Scott