Wow, what a busy weekend

For a family that is stuck at home, we are certainly keeping our self busy.

Duane only had Saturday to spend with us this week. He somehow got roped into helping dig some 3 mtr holes, it was only supposed to take 1 or 2 afternoons, but he has been there every day after work. I'm not used to him getting home at 6.30, that's just so late for us considering he is gone by 5.30am. Actually Saturday he did work, he did the cleaning up at the Grand so he was gone at 4am and didn't get home until 9am. He would have been home earlier but there was a snake found on the course and as Duane fancies himself as a bit of a snake catcher he volunteered to move it. Lucky it was only a friendly python, all 10 FOOT of it though. Crazy!

So Saturday we made a big trip to Bunnings, where my lovely husband bought me a can-of-worms. Oh so romantic! I was over the moon, can't wait to start my work family and get all that beautiful rich fertiliser and castings for my garden. We also bought some sleepers to make the kids a huge sandpit, seems the little clam shell just doesn't cut it anymore with the 2 of them. I was worried about the timber because all of it is treated with arsenic, but I found a product that gets painted on and stops the nasties leaching out. So I spent the rest of the afternoon painting the sleepers and preparing the ground for them to go on. Duane nailed them together and I did the rest.

~~The sandpit frame~~

Duane went to Indy on Sunday, but that didn't stop me from hooking up the trailer and heading out to get a load of sand. I haven't driven with a trailer since our dog washing days and was a bit nervous in case I had to attempt reverse. First stop was the sand place, and yep I had to reverse out. All whilst being watched by the 2 male workers, no doubt waiting for something exciting to happen. I did it though, easily and nothing was damaged.

Next stop was bunnings. Xavier was strapped into the pram where he couldn't infect anyone. I grabbed a sausage each for the kids, then zoomed around getting everything I needed for my chook house (next project) The trailer was piled high with 30mtrs of 90x45 timber and lots of other assorted goodies designed to keep chooks in and everything else out. Poor Grace was a bit devastated about not having a go in the playground, but I distracted her with the promise of going home to play in the sandpit. It worked.

So once we got home I drove the trailer into the backyard. I've never put the jockey wheel on before, but soon worked it out and unhooked the car from the trailer. The kids were sent off to play whilst I tried everything I could think of to move the damn trailer. I'd seen Duane pushing it around the backyard so easily and silly me thought the I could do the same WITH a full load of sand in the back.

I pushed, pulled, grunted and shoved. The stupid thing was not budging. I did manage to move it once, unfortunately that was straight into the back of the car. I quickly ran around and stopped it, pinning my hand between the trailer and the spare wheel on the back of the Rav. After getting my hand out, I decided the safest thing would be to give up on moving the trailer and just bucket the sand to the sandpit.


So I put the kids to bed and started the tedious task. Curiosity got the better of me about halfway, so I gave the trailer one big shove and yippee it moved. I pushed the trailer so it was hanging over the sand pit and dumped the rest of the sand in. Much, much easier.


Taa-da:

~~The 2 kidlets enjoying all my hard work~~

And yes that is Xav in the lovely pink hat. The little brat will not keep a hat on, so until I can find a better one, he is stuck wearing Grace's old one that does up nice and tight under his chin.

At the moment we are just using a large tarp to cover it of a night. I'm thinking maybe a few layers of shade cloth with piping around it to keep it on might work?

The kids are loving it, I'm not so keen on the sand that is migrating everywhere though. Then again, the peace and quiet that the sandpit has given me means more time for cleaning.

Oh, great. Don't worry that'll never happen.

Grommets it is

~~Xav's spotty face & hands~~

I've just gotten back from Xav's Dr's appointment and I have pretty much decided to go ahead with the grommets.

I firstly asked our lovely Dr what she would do if it was her child. She is very anti-intervention & drugs if they are not necessary, and she said that she would probably wait until after Summer and see how he went. She explained how sometimes these things can clear themselves up, but if I thought for one second that it was causing him unnecessary pain to go ahead with it.


Well that was until she looked in his poor ears. The left side was red, but not too bad. The right side was retracted, red and not good. She then said immediately that after seeing that she would not hesitate in getting the grommets. I trust her immensely and am happy to go along with her recommendation. She wrote out a referral to the public hospital stating all the infections that Xav has had over the last year, so hopefully that will help him move up the list a little.

She also said that she had seen 3 kids this week with HF&M, so it seems my little boy is not the only scabby infested child around!

Xav is happier though, which is great for all our sanity. Now just have to wait for the spots to clear up so we can come out of quarantine.

Stuck at home

Well we are onto day 4 of being stuck at home and surprisingly it's not going too badly.

I really thought that we would all be driving each other batty within the first hour. Somehow we are managing to be busy and lazy at the same time. Busy - because I seem to be constantly trying to find ways to amuse them and lazy because I feel like we are just slothing around the house (probably due to the fact that our Pj's are slowing becoming "dayware"!)

The kids have had a ball doing lots of different activities. Their favourite has been drawing outside on the concrete with chalk and then painting over it with water. Our whole front area is just a mass of randomly drawn scrawls. I've introduced Grace to the joys of hopscotch, she has been excitedly jumping all over it. I tried to actually teach her what to do, but apparently just throwing a rock at the ground then jumping around madly screaming "Yeah....I did it, I did it" is a better option. So I've left her alone to enjoy the thrill of hopscotch, only having a turn myself when she is off busy with something else.

We have also amused our self with running races, handstands, cartwheels, hide and seek, pretending to be animals in the jungle, pretend shops, lots of books, re-runs of videos of the kids (Grace's favourite is her naming day, which she refers to as her "Princess Day"!)chasing the dogs, pouring water, weeding the garden, making collages, drawing, stickers, painting and much, much more. Who-ever knew hanging out at home could be so much fun?

On the down side my house is constantly trashed and I feel like I need to clean all the time. I guess it's because we are at home more, so my house is bearing the brunt of their destruction instead of someone else's place. Doesn't help that Duane is working very hard all this week, leaving the house at 5.30am and not getting home until after 6pm. He also has Indy on Sunday, but he did say that if I needed a rest from the kids, he wouldn't go. As nice as it would be to say yes to that, I'll be nice and politely decline his offer.

Grace was supposed to go to daycare today but to save me from any future guilt of passing on diseases I have kept her at home. As tempting as it was to be toddler free for the day, I have done the right thing. Stupid, stupid me! She's not showing any signs of being sick and if she was going to get it I was hoping that it would be now, not as Xav's was ending.

Xav has another Dr's appointment today, just to check how he is going and to get a referral to get his grommets in the public system. Figure I'll get him on the "list" then see how he goes between now and the call up.

I was right

Unfortunately my diagnosis was correct. Xav has a disgusting case of Hand, foot and mouth disease, sounds gross doesn't it?

Apparently it's not as bad as it sounds. It's actually a viral infection that causes spots that turn into blisters on the hands, feet, mouth and in the nappy area. Ulcers usually come up in the mouth too which make it hard to eat anything unless it's soft and mushy. It's also accompanied by a cold, fever and generally feeling like crap. Xav has been extra tired and grumbly, but not too bad.

My poor little boys face is all spotty and horrible looking. He has sores all around his mouth, on his cheeks and up both of his nostrils. His little bot-bot is so red, and angry looking. I don't think they are upsetting him, they just look horrible.

The Dr took one look at him and confirmed it straight away. She asked if he was in daycare, as it is most common there. I told her that he wasn't' but his older sister was, but she had no symptoms at all. I called the childcare to check if it was going around but they have no cases of it up there at the moment, so I am stumped as to where he has picked it up from. He has been around a few other kids with runny noses, but none of them are showing any signs of the spots.

She said that once you have it you are generally immune for life, which I guess is a good thing and maybe I should encourage Grace to get it now?

I did have the awful job of contacting all the parents of the kids that we have been in contact with over the last week. We spent Monday with Malia, Noah, Emily, Hazel and Logan, and I am just hoping and praying that none of them have caught it. Even though I would never have been able to guess (before the spots) that Xav had anything, is still feel terrible that other kids have been exposed to it.

So I am stuck at home with both kiddies until the blisters clear up, which can take between 2-7 days. Oh joy!

The kids are watching way, way too much of the idiot box. I've burnt all the little videos I have taken over their lives and they are watching them over & over & over again. Might even make a quick trip to the video shop and get some movies for when being stuck at home for this long gets the better of me. We all are so used to getting out and about every day. It's a very rare day that we stay at home. The kids are used to being out and sociable, with playgroup, 2 mothers groups, the library, the park and of course shopping.

We are all going to go crazy.

On a side note we did go to the Steiner School open day last night. Wendy came to look after Xav, so just Duane, Grace & I went along. It really just confirmed to me that this is the school that I want both kids to go to. It is truly beautiful and you could really feel the energy, excitement and motivation that all the students have. The class rooms are just gorgeous, with the smell of nature intoxicating as you enter. The walls are filled with beautiful artwork, the shelves are loaded with all natural toys. The rooms are not clinical, they seem to be full of life. We had a tour with 1 of the grade 4 students. He showed us around his classroom that had been made into a mini town. Each student had a "shop" within the town - bank, news agency, post office, hairdresser, op shop and plenty more. Each child was paid a wage from doing their "job" and then they could spend it in the town. Everything they earn and spent was written in their workbook. It looked and sounded like so much fun, and what a great way for kids to learn.

Grace loved it and is asking all the time when she can go to her big school. Just over 2 years to go, and my little girl will be going to prep. Where does the time go?

Spots

I think I may have just discovered the reason why my darling Son has been a bit "precious" for the last few days.

I really, really, really hope that I am wrong, I guess the 1.30pm Dr's appt will confirm or deny my suspicions.

He has had a yucky green snotty nose for the last few days. Miserable and just out of sorts. Today when he woke up I changed his bum and his whole nappy area was covered in tiny spots. My first thought was nappy rash, so he has spent the majority of the morning nappy free.

On closer inspection I noticed some spots on his hands and feet. Also some spots around his nose and mouth, but I had written them off as sores from wiping his nose so often.

Maybe, maybe not.

Sound like anything?

Why?

Why did my darling husband not try harder yesterday to get the kids to have an afternoon sleep? Sure it was Sunday and he wanted to spend the day with them whilst I went out, but sleep is necessary.

They very rarely miss it and if they do it is hell for me the following day, resulting in lots of whingeing from all of us and me succumbing to copious amount of chocolate.

Why do my children not sit still? Even for one millisecond?

I am forever chasing them both, saving whoever's house we are at from mass destruction. They still manage to get into mischief even in a fully child-proof home. Seems houses can be child-proofed, just not Penney-kid proofed. Actually the main culprit at the moment is Mstr X. If there is a button to be pressed, drawer to be opened, Tv to be turned on or anything else that he isn't supposed to be into, he is your Man. I would just to sit down for 1 second and not have to think about what they are getting into. Apparently (from wise mother Julie) I get to relax when they are adults. Yay!! But why are other kids not into everything like they are? Is it something that I have inbred into them? Surely if I dared to have a third they would be the type that just sat on the floor reading books and being all cute and quiet? Surely!

Why does the person that could help me the most live so far away?

I just want my MUM. I see others with Mothers around that fuss over them and help out so much with the kids and I am insanely jealous. I want my Mum to pop in and say that she will take one (or both!!) of the kids out for a bit. I'd love to be able to pack an overnight bag for Grace and wave goodbye to her as she heads out to spend the night with Nanny. Sure I would miss her, but I know that she would have a fantastic time.

But as much as they are driving me up the wall today, it's all OK.

Grace knows that I am over-it today and no doubt she is feeling my tension, she just came up to me and said,
"I love you so much Mummy"

And tomorrow is another day.

Grommets for the Grommet

After a long wait Xav finally had his appointment with the Ear, nose and Throat specialist.

He's been great lately, last ear infection was in Tas and I just filled his ear with garlic oil and it cleared up. He did come down with a yucky cold on Wednesday night though and I was suspicious that another ear infection was on it's way, so it was perfect timing to be going to see the specialist.

Grandma came up to watch Grace (who slept the whole time we were away), and Duane came along with us. Thank goodness for that because we ended up having an hour wait so Duane got to chase Xavier around as he terrorised the medical centre. Busy, busy boy that he is!

I was quite surprised when we were finally introduced to the ENT guy, he barely looked 25. He was friendly with Xav though and seemed to know what he was on about so I handed over my precious boy for him to examine. He checked his ears and said that it looked like he may be on the verge of an infection and that there may be some fluid build up. We chatted about his ear infection history and he said straight up that he would recommend grommets.

I was a bit naive and thought that it was just a tube that went into the ear, no cutting or anything. However, he explained that they cut a slit inside the ear and this little piece of plastic (the grommet) is placed in there. It usually only lasts for 6-12 months then has to be done all over again. he explained all the costs (about $1500 if done privately) and that he could do it next week if we wanted too. I was a bit taken aback that my little boy would need anaesthetic and surgery, so I told him that I would like to see how he goes over the next few months and then make a decision. I am hoping that as the warmer weather comes, and the colds and sniffles stop being passed around, he might not get any more ear infections.

In the meantime I'll keep dosing him up on Cod Liv A, Metagenics Immune care and the garlic oil in the ears. I've also taken him off cows milk and giving him rice milk instead. It's something to do with the dairy causing mucous, which in turn can cause the ear infections. Yoghurt is ok as it is partially broken down already and we are still breastfeeding (although he is showing some indifference to this sob, sob!!)

If he is still getting ear infections then I'll reconsider getting the grommets. I'm just not that keen at the moment for surgery if it is something that can be controlled other ways. Of course I don't want him to be in any pain or discomfort, so if the grommets can stop this, I'm all for it.

Whilst I don't' want to mess around with my children's health, I do feel the need to question everything. Duane and I both felt that the ENT guy was a little hurried in just getting Xav into surgery ASAP. I know that he probably knows best, but I still just want to give it a bit if time.

My Mums a Net Nerd

When I went to Tas last month I took Mum down my old hard drive and set her up with the Internet. I did have ulterior motives though, it meant that I could still keep in the loop of things when I was away, but I did also think Mum would enjoy have a surf every now and then. I'd been trying to talk her into getting on the net for ages, but she has always been a little scared of all that fan-dangled technology. I mentioned to her once that I did all my banking on it and she nearly had a coronary. She must have been watching too much Today Tonight because she was so scared that my bank accounts were going to get wiped, because apparently that's what happens when you put any details on the WWW.

We normally talk everyday, but for the last few weeks all I get is the bloody engaged signal! Stupid dial up! When I do manage to get through to her in between her "Internet time", she says stuff like "Yes, I googled blah, blah blah" or "I've been looking around on the net". She did send me a text message yesterday to say that she had discovered the world of forums and even has a user name "Mega" What tha? It took me ages to get confidant enough to venture into them and here's my Mum a total newbie starting threads and posting like an old hat!

I am getting lots of e-mails from her though, complete with obligatory net talk like "Lol". Ok whole stole my Mum and cybered her?

For someone that was scared of catching virus's and trojans, she has certainly gotten over her fear!

Actually I did venture into chat rooms way back when they were just 128.35.1 200 (yes I do actually think that I remember the actual site number)

Nicole and I kidnapped a computer nerd and had him teach us how to hack into the computers at the library and into the chat rooms. It was just before we did our first trip to Canada and Nicole got chatting to a guy in Colorado. Long story short, we decided that we would make a quick trip from Canada down to visit him. Now remember we were barely 18 and totally naive to the dangers of the world. No way would you do it now!

So we flew into Colorado airport and was picked up Ross's Mum (no doubt so she could ascertain why these 2 18 year olds wanted to meet up with her son) We went back to their house and spent the next few nights there. I'm not sure who we expected to meet, but Ross was a very sweet 14 YEAR OLD!!!! How in the hell he managed to convince his parents that it would be a good idea to have 2 18 year old Australian's come stay I'll never know. Can you just imagine how much he would have talked that up at school (yes he was still at school!)

So anyway we spent a lovely Easter with him and his family, they took us sightseeing and skiing and took us to the place that 4 USA states meet.

Seriously though, how dangerous and stupid was that?

Never in a pink fit would I allow my child to do that now, I guess we just got lucky.

Lost in books

I've been a bit slack here lately, lots has been happening but I haven't made time to sit down and write.

I have rediscovered one of my favourite pastimes, reading. I love reading, but as soon as I get a good book under way I can't put it down. carry it with me everywhere, sneaking quick reads when ever I can. I have devoured 3 books over the last 3 days, spending the kids nap times curled up on the bed reading. Actually I am curled up on Grace's bed because she refuses to have her day sleep in her room, always wants it in Mummy's bed. I don't mind where she sleeps though, just as long as she does, plus her room has a beautiful stream of sun that I can lay in!

The weather has been beautiful so we have been spending lots of time outside, the kids running around playing and me following behind with my nose in a book. My lack of attention must be starting to annoy them as they now think its funny to rip the bookmark out and run off with it. They also must be curious as to why I spend so much time with a book and have both been sprung at various times sitting down flipping the pages.

I have really missed immersing myself in a good book. It's not like I have really ever stopped reading, just now I am back to reading novels and not just endless birth or parenting books.

My re-found love of books has also been to the kids advantage too. They are being trusted with actually bringing home books from the library, not just flipping the pages why we are there. Maybe I am being too trusting, and I hope it doesn't all blow up in my face when I am frantically taping up torn books. Maybe I should make the kids get their own memberships so they are not tarnishing my pristine book lending record.

Wisdom sucks

My stupid wisdom teeth have once again popped up and are bugging the absolute crap out of me.
1 is through completely and behaving nicely, the other 3 are on their own little journey of destruction, causing me immense pain on the way. I had a scan yesterday and it seems that these 3 waywards are actually growing sideways, not up as they are supposed to be doing. So the angle that they are growing on is making them slam into the other molars, trapping food under the gap and causing infections. That's where my pain is coming from, the blasted infections raging inside my mouth.

I went to the dentist yesterday and she has put me onto antibiotics and referred me through to an oral surgeon, who will rip them out and rid me of their pain forever. The a/b's should be kicking in soon, they'd better or I will be performing my own extractions. Surely ripping my own teeth out would hurt less than the constant, jaw splitting ache that I have now. Toothaches are horrendous, the pain just thuds away in your mouth constantly.

I would love to just pop a few heavy duty pain killers and go to bed to sleep them off, but no it's only panadol for this milk making mumma.

I actually had the same thing happen just after Xav was born. It was the wisdom teeth causing the trouble, but it was an infection in my back right molar causing the pain. I had the cavity removed and filled...with no needles or deadening. The dentist didn't want to use anything because I was breastfeeding, so that was interesting.

I need a sugar rush, but the only chocolate that I have in the house is frozen milky ways. I guess I could defrost and drink them?

Oh gosh, the pain is getting unbearable, even after taking panadol. I am going to break all the rules and take some nurofen, its either that or I rip the stupid thing out myself.

Going green

I've always tried to be environmentally friendly.

We recycle, I have a compost, lights and power points are turned off when they aren't used, I only use bi-carb and vinegar for cleaning, I always use cloth nappies and wipes, I re-wash plastic plates and cutlery and we are conscious of out water usage.

So when I heard about the diva cup I was all for giving it a go. Now don't click on this site if you are a little squeamish, it took me a while to get my head around the concept of it, but now I am a convert!

The whole thing was a little daunting to start with, but the promise of never buying "feminine hygiene" products again bought out my thrifty side. It's also supposed to be better for you body too, compared to the alternative of the chlorine-bleached synthetic fibres of tampons.

The first few goes I was a apprehensive and having visions of fronting up to Emergency and having to explain that I was missing something. Imagine having to explain that one! But it does work and I did manage this whole period using just the one tampon, and the diva cup for the rest of the time.

I won't go into all the graphic details, but it does definitely work well.

Yes, I really am just a hippy at heart!

Why oh why was I not born in the 60's? I'm sure I would have had a lot of fun had I been around in that era!!