This ANZAC weekend , I organised our first ever New Zealand group meet-up in Rotorua, and wow - what an experience. So many wonderful people with so much knowledge and experience to share. We managed to get together 8 New Zealand families - as well as having the pleasure of the director of Nevus Support Australia, Michelle's company for the weekend.

I can't begin to tell you what it meant for us to speak face to face with other parents who have children with the same condition as our Olive, and to talk with those who are older and further along their path. I'm sure others can relate when I say there is something special in being able to talk with others in the same boat - whether it be rare condition like Olive has, or a heart defect, or another type of medical 'ailment', To be able to meet a bunch of beautiful people of various ages who have had such a similar road to the one you are on is both relaxing and overwhelming all at once.

Olive was the youngest person with CMN there, and the others ranged in ages up to 47. For me as a Mum, I found it really reassuring to see these brave and beautiful girls and women (there were no males with CMN there!) leading such a wonderful, fulfilling and normal life. Each one of them was an inspiration for me, and I feel they will be such a positive influence and great role models for Olive in years to come. There was such a delight in watching all the kids playing together so comfortably and getting along so well.

I got to learn about a whole bunch of medical procedures I had no idea about, and to learn of what the others did and didn't like about living with their nevus. I will admit, that for someone who is shy like myself, the whole aspect of meeting new people was a bit scary and I was quite anxious beforehand. But I needn't have been. They were such easy-going people and going by the feedback I have received, they each found it just as beneficial as us. I am so thankful that each family was so receptive to being open and honest with us all, just as we were with them, and that everyone was so interested in each other!

What a blessing to meet this many families in such a short span of Olive's life. Olive of course, was oblivious to most of it. She was more intent on running out of the pub door on Saturday night and screaming her way down the slide at the park we met at on Sunday. We got some gorgeous photos of everybody all together, and all of the kids had a blast.

In what can appear to be a 'negative' when your child is first born with such a distinctive difference, sometimes you can meet some of the most amazing people.

Here is my wee girl with her 'same same' friend, Haley, who also has a bathing trunk nevus.

They say it take a village to raise children and though a lot of the time I feel like I'm all alone in this long haul, and no-one else could at all understand my sleep deprivation or how close I am teetering to the end of my tether, I actually have to agree wholeheartedly. I could never be without my village. With each stage of the kids lives, my village grows a bit more and involves more people - friends, teachers, new family. My village is something I value a lot and I lean on them heavily with my parenting -  it may be a phonecall to my Mum to tell her a funny thing one of the kids said, or a post on Facebook asking what other parents do in such and such situation, or perhaps even my Dad or my sister taking the kids overnight so we can have some time as a couple. Whatever the situation though, I am always aware that these are my 'guys'. And I have some damn good ones.

Today my youngest babe turns two. Two whole years since my little angel graced us with her presence. And she hasn't stopped. I had as many Facebook posts on my wall today wishing my little girl a happy birthday as I did on my birthday! And nobody even got a Facebook reminder! Haha. But honestly? That makes me feel blessed. It is not just me and my husband who love this child (and of course my other two!) infinitely, but our whole village. It inspires me to keep sharing things about my kids and to keep filling them with love.

I wont deny it, my kids do my head in. I lose it and yell, and go all banshee on them. I don't necessarily do things right - hell, a lot of the time I feel like I'm stumbling my way through this minefield of a parenting lark! Sometimes I feel I am too hard on them and other times I think I'm probably taking the easy way out. But we must be also doing a lot right, that works for them as people. I sure know we did today.

Olive woke up and had a smile on her face from that moment on. She was so excited about her approaching birthday that for the last few days she has been singing herself Happy Birthday and then clapping and yelling, 'Yaaaay!! My birfday!!'. She got a new easel for her birthday which was a hit with all the kids,  especially the chalk for the blackboard which apparently makes a good snack. We also gave her a new pink wagon, which was also a hit...until the big kids bowled Pop over with it while he was holding Olive. Whoops!

I spent the day doing her cake, which she had requested as 'two' and a 'pink one'. So that's what she got, a long with far too many sprinkles and lollies. We had a few meltdowns when she was told to wait for Grandma, pop and her aunties before she could eat it!
When we all sang her happy birthday, she grinned the entire song and mouthed along the words of Happy Birthday...to Olive.
My girl was thoroughly spoilt with gifts, attention, cuddles, kisses and love. You could see the pure joy on her face the whole time. It really was heart-meltingly-cute.

Two years gone since she busted into our lives with that charisma and radiant positive energy that she exudes and I wouldn't change her for the world.

Happy birthday my sweet Olive. xoxo

This blog is for Olive and while this post isn't directly about Olive, I wanted to post something about some people who are very important in her life. Her older siblings, Jaxon and Meisha. My big kids have been AMAZING since we had Olive. And not just cliché amazing, REAL amazing. I am so proud of the people they are - they are so accepting and comforting. They are confident and they are encouraging. I couldn't have asked for better people for Oli to look up to. Truly.

Jaxon is my 8 year old, as most people know. He is the most sensitive and caring wee boy I have ever met. He has an intuition when it comes to peoples feeling's and he is very good at being supportive and compassionate to people without being prompted. He likes to make people feel special, and when he does, he has this beautiful coy smile that he treats you with. Out of all of my babies, he was the biggest laugher. From a very young age, he would make us laugh with his infectious belly laugh and he still does. You can't help chuckling as well when you hear him chortling away.

Jax is a quiet boy a lot of the time and people mistake him for being shy. He is actually very confident. He doesn't think much of getting in front of an audience and performing. In fact, I think he quite thrives on it. At my mother in law's 60th birthday recently, they had a microphone for people to stand up and say something. Jax insisted on standing up there, in front of a room full of adults he barely knew, and he wished his Grandma a happy birthday. That kind of stuff? That makes my heart just beam with pride.

Jax is never slow to helping me with Olive and he takes good care of her when they play together. He has a good dose of common sense for a boy of his age and will not hesitate to call me if he feels there is any type of danger. He loves laughing at Olive and getting her to do silly things and make her laugh. He doesn't care if things are girly or pink, if it keeps his sister happy, he will do it.

Meisha, on the other hand, he is not quite so happy to help! lol. They are just 20 months apart in age so there is more sibling rivalry there. They are thick as thieves sometimes, and other times are at each other's throats.

She comes across as a shy quiet girl as well, and is actually a lot more shy than Jaxon. She has a wicked sense of humour and can be very clever in some of the pranks she has played on me (like locking me outside in my knickers and bra one morning while she stood there laughing her little head off!)!

My Meisha is a very competent child, she is excelling in her gymnastics class and she enjoys doing things that make her feel strong - climbing, running, lifting things etc. She obviously gets that from Eddie, not me!

Meisha also loves maths. A maths problem excites her and she loves being challenged into figuring out new ones. Meisha struggles a bit more with her reading, where Jax excels with his so often he will sit with her while I am busy doing dinner (or some other necessary but boring task) and help her with her reading. That is a delightful sight to a mother's eyes.

Meishy-moo is a beautiful girl (yes yes, all the looks from me haha!) and is often told so. She has gorgeous dark eyelashes with naturally blonded hair, and coupled with her lovely skin tone and her charming features, she really is a beauty.

Both Jaxon and Meisha have never moaned about Olive taking up time, or about Olive being different and having any different attention or treatment from anyone. They have always been on this road with us - enjoying the good times, knowing the sad times, and always always ALWAYS being right there for Olive. In every way.

I am so proud of my children. They truly are my biggest achievement. All three of them. Not only are they all stunners (haha, biased mother!) but  I am so pleased with the people they are already, and the more they blossom every day.

Olive climbed up the chair and plonked herself on it, wrapping her blankie over her legs.
"No babe, hop into bed please". I told her.
"No", she said defiantly.
"Why not?" I asked (stupid me!).
"Coz, Mum. Just beee-coz. Ok?"

Good lord, this child has attitude! No idea of the consequences of her actions just yet, but quite determined to not do anything that doesn't suit her.

She has become almost obsessed with a lovely soft blanket that a good friend of mine gave her for her first birthday. Since she got it last year, I've always had it on her bed as it is so nice and soft, I thought it would feel lovely on her skin. Just the last few weeks, she has insisted it goes everywhere with her. She has to have her 'bankley' when she snuggles on the couch, or when she comes in our bed, or when we go in the car, and today she was dragging it around outside while she watched her Daddy mow the lawns.
She got grass clippings and dirt all over it, so I chucked it in the washing machine. She kept trying to get it out, crying "bankleeeey! bankleeeeey!" and when it was finally done, I hung it in the sun to dry. It would have only taken 15 minutes but she spent every second of it, trying to tug it off the clothes line.
So I cut it in half. Bearing in mind, it was the size of a single bed blanket, she now has 2 decent cot sized "bankleys", so she can leave one on her bed and one can go everywhere.
Ahhhh, genius!

So tonight she had her "bankley" and Taylor Teddy (a teddy she acquired from her Aunty last week and has also grown a fondness for) in my bed and her teeny toes were poking out from beneath her blankey.
"Mummy! Look! Dat toe is sneaky!"
Hahaha, I love this kid!

After her sneaky toe had been poked back in, I told her to turn over (she has also taken to removing her pyjama top so she can feel the blanket on her skin..so sweet!) and I would tickle her back. She obediently did so, and I started tickling. After a few minutes, her breathing slowed and got deeper and she was lying perfectly still so I figured she was almost asleep. Then suddenly she throws herself over, grins and says "tanks Mummy!".

I could record so many conversations with Olive. She surprises us every day. She speaks in full sentences and it is very rare that you would have to ask her to repeat herself. She is a very bright wee button, who is also very capable. She loves climbing and doing anything the big kids are doing. She can lift herself on the rings and takes herself down the slide. I love seeing how more and more confident she gets each day.

She turns 2 in 2 weeks. A whole 2 years since this little tornado came bursting into our lives. She has had a lot of attention since the article came out in the paper, and it is fantastic. We have managed to find 2 new people with CMN through the article which is just so great! We are planning a CMN get-together in Rotorua in April, for NZ families which we are super excited for. Another great step in linking us all together.
And so far, we have raised over $3000 towards our Olive's Chance fundraiser. This is incredible!! Absolutely astounding how generous everyone has been. Thank you all.

For more details or to donate, you can go to: https://www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/oliveschance

Love, love, love

This is just a short post for today, as I mainly wanted to post a link to the article we did. We are so overwhelmed right now. The support and encouragement from people is incredible. Absolutely amazing. We are over halfway to our goal of $5000 to help with the trip to Australia (we hope to save $5000 as well). Today has been such a high, with donations coming in thick and fast and messages from people sending their love and support. We have had a message from another AUCKLAND nevus Mum - hooray!! Just what we are wanting. To connect with others in the same boat as us.
I was so afraid of doing the fundraising, because of my own insecurities, but I am so glad we took that big step and threw ourselves into all of this. The positive attention coming our way is so humbling and we are so proud that there are such wonderful people not just in our lives, but in the world. All of this, for my wee angel girl, who has no idea....

Thank you, to everyone, from the bottom of our hearts for making this dream come true for our little family.

(You can read the article here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/9820680/Family-seeks-help-for-tot).

If anyone wants to donate to Olive's Chance, you can do so at:

https://www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/oliveschance

You know those days you have with your toddler, where right from the moment they wake you up at some ridiculous hour, to the moment they fight you to sleep, everything is a battle? They tip their Weetbix on the floor and smear Marmite toast into the carpet. They tip water over your books, and eat the cat food. They figure out how to climb the fireplace, and how to hang from the bath rail. They refuse to wear clothes, and take bites out of every piece of fruit in the fruitbowl. They hop back in the bath once they're dried with pyjama's on, and they like to make phone calls without your knowledge, often to 111.
I'd like to carry on saying that these are one off days but in reality, this is my life. The Terrible Two's. Which start at one, and end at five. When your child suddenly realises that they don't need Mum for everything, that they have some choice in their life. So they choose. And they choose the most frustrating and messy choices they could ever choose.
And guess who has to pick up after them? U-huh....Mum.

And so although you may not like to admit it ("oh heeell no, my life doesn't revolve around my children"), fact is, your entire world is now dictated by this tiny being who has a meltdown if you don't let them wear their shoes on the wrong feet, but is overjoyed at running away at bathtime.

You spend every waking moment trying to supervise every task and when you think you can quickly sneak off to the bathroom, you return a minute or two later to a mess (generally in our case it is the kitty litter tipped up or milk she's tried to pour herself) that takes up MORE time to clean up, by which time they have started up in another quest to decorate the house.

So if you've been through this stage, you know exactly what I mean when I say, I need a break.
It's not that I don't love my kids. In fact, its the total opposite - I love my kids so much that I put everything into them, rarely leaving any energy for me to focus on myself. By the time bedtime rolls around each night, all I want is to mung out in front of the tele in a little bubble and ignore the world.

So I'm at that point where I just cant wait to have the night off in 2 weeks for our 1st wedding anniversary. I will jump at any opportunity to have 5 minutes quiet time. So when I realised I needed coconut cream for dinner, I thought YES! I need to go to the dairy! (How sad is that?)

So I yelled 'BYE!' to the husband and kids, jumped in the car, and put it into reverse. Then I looked up to see wee Olive standing at the {locked} door, peering out and grinning. I wound down the window and could hear her yelling 'Lullooo Mummy!! Byyyeee Mummy!!! Lulloooooo!' and blowing smoochy kisses off her chubby hand while the other smeared some crap all over the glass.

And that makes it all worth it. Every ounce of frustration and annoyance that comes with being a parent is taken back in the knowledge that this small child trusts, that even after all of those hair-tearing incidents, you love them no matter what. To the moon and back.

My babies are my world. My life DOES revolve around them. Everything I do, is for them. In my last post I mentioned our goal to go take our family to Australia for the next nevus conference. This is in January 2015, and it is extremely important to us. It is not only important for my children and ourselves to meet others who walk a similar road, but it is invaluable for the information we can acquire for Olive's health down the track. With this information, and support from international organisations, we can also take the next step in building an officially recognised charity organisation in New Zealand for CMN. If anybody would like to donate to help us achieve our goal, you can do so by visiting https://www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/oliveschance. Please do not feel obliged to do so by any means, even sharing the page will be just as much help.

Thank you everybody for your continued support, it means the world to our family.

Eminem played an amazing gig last night!

Apparently....I wouldn't know much about that because I didn't go. Haha (can you tell I am just slightly jealous?). Our family went to the hot pools instead, along with my sister and her family. The kids had an absolute blast! My older two had new snorkelling gear to try out and loved practising what they learn at their swim lessons with my sister and her fiancée's older girls. All the kids (including the two biggest kids - my husband and my brother in law) spent ages running up to the top of the hydroslides and coming zooming down on the mats, being hurled into the water at the bottom and fumbling around a sea of people to find the right way up. The bigger kids at the pools kept blocking the slides so that when the next lot of people came down the water would come gushing out, tumbling people upside down. Was hilarious to watch peoples faces as they came caning out into the sunlight.
Of course, after watching for ten minutes or so, Olive decided she wanted a go. So Eddie took her on the slide with him, and shared his mat. My sister and I watched, phones poised to record, expecting them to come out the slower slide. Next minute, Olive and her Dad come whooshing out of the faster slide, Olive being held high in the air so as not to go under the water.
'MORE!' comes her little voice.

Of course she wants more. Of course.

We were all over it by dinnertime and got out to get changed. In the changing rooms, I stripped Oli off and as I went to dry her she, being the mischievous toddler she is, ran off. There were a lot of people in the changing room, and I was well aware that my daughter was zipping around nudey rudey and she had a very very noticeable giant mark across her back that most doctors (let alone your average person at a pool) have never seen. I automatically expected some stares and whispers and as she whipped out into the corridor in front of a woman of about 50, I was anticipating a reaction of some kind from this lady whose view was the different back of my precious babe.

'And she's off!', was all she said, with a big smile at me - obviously someone who understood toddlers....a Mum to Mum smile.

I grinned, grabbed my baby and took her back to clothe her.

God bless that sweet woman, for normalising what I anticipate people making hard for my beautiful and naughty child. She made my day.