Babies Born ~ September 2007 #71

We're going through that stage too with A, MD. And it is over completely random and unreasonable things too. LIke the other day he cracked it and said it wasn't fair that we couldn't go to the club - on a Tuesday night! After football homegames we aways go back to the club for a BBQ and the kids all have a ball and he decided that he wanted to go on Tuesday. When I said he couldn't he was all "Its not FAIR!"

Glad to hear that DH is home again too :hug: I hope it's ages before he goes away again. And goodluck with the 9yp too - sounds like you might need it :lol:

Find out tomorrow (hopefully) if L got into high school. They said they will contact us via email or by letter on the 4th, so I"m hoping we get an email.
Trying to get stuck into Uni again and it is soooo hard this time. I dont' feel burnt out, but the motivation just isn't there. I have on unit that is all over and done with by the 6th of August, which is brilliant, but it's the hardest subject to get *into* kwim? So boring!

ON a more personal note, I think I have a prolapse. I have nearly zero continence and as soon as I feel the urge to go to the loo, I have to GO. I hate wearing liners all the time. I have a pap smear for next week so I'm getting a referral to my gyno to get it sorted out. I also have the usual problems starting up again too. I think I'm actually peri-menopausal which I think is just ****house.

MD, thankfully we seem to have skipped the not fair thing (so far...). I do get a bit of "why do you keep telling me what to do all the time?!" (answer- listen the first time and I wouldn't have to keep nagging!!!). Glad your DH is home. That went really quickly for me! Like MP, I was going to ask how she was going with her DH away and next thing she has a post on FB arrived at some tropical paradise :)

Trill, I really think that woman get the raw deal in pretty much everything :( How great would it be to go off every day to your high paying job with international travel (did I mention that DH is going to Finland for two weeks next month?), come home to a clean house and play with the kids while someone else cooks for you.... whoops, forgot to swallow my bitter pill today lol
I have a few issues down south, my hopes are pinned on them all magically healing themselves when I have finished BF because I will never be able to talk about it to anyone in real life lol. I hope that you can get some success out of exercises or something xx
Good luck for the school acceptance. They are a bunch of idiots if they don't want a kid like L!

Trill: CONGRATULATIONS are in order :dance: so so happy for Master L!!!!!

MD: ah thanks for the cleansing tips. i had imagined it much more convuluded lol.
oh dude, we are getting the 'it's not fair' trip BIG TIME in our house too. i am going bonkers!!!!! it is from everything: food, clothes, hairclips, toilet usage, shower/bath...the list is endless. justaphasejustaphasejustaphasejusta.....

Trill: has it only been happening recently? or has it been building up? Hopefully the GP appt will shed some light and hopefully it aint part of a perimenopause thang. do you guys have early onset in your family?

Arte: how did the trip away go? hope you did awesomely and still managed to have a great time.

AFM: soo ready to come home now! i wanna be in my own bed waaahhhhh!!!!!! loving the warm weather, good food etc, but at the end of the day, there aint no place like home!

Trill, I bet you are thrilled that L got accepted! How is he feeling? Will all the kids go to that school?

Cass, nothing like your own bed! Hope the kids are feeling better now.

AFM, a bit of positivity rather than my usual whinging! Usually school holidays are horrible around here but for the first time ever we are going just fine. W seems really happy atm and isn't crawling the walls with boredom after one morning at home like in the past.
Times have changed so much around here. Two years ago we were spending around 1-2 hours of tantrum to get W into bed, with half a dozen wake ups during the night. Fast forward to now and last night he wasn't overly tired (afternoon nap), but he went to bed without a fuss and I found him in there still awake 3 hours later! I could hear him reading for the first hour or so and I though he went to sleep after that, but nope, he was still up writing and drawing.
It is so nice to have an easy bedtime!

And we are in the planning stages of a caravan holiday around the South Island in January, making our way to DH's hometown for his granny's 80th. Sounds good so far :)

Off to Rotorua tomorrow morning to meet up with the IL's. Thinking of doing the gondola and luge.

Oh, and I had a burst of brilliance the other week! Pre-empting the usual spend up at the $2 shop to keep the kids entertained, I told W that he could have a whole $20 for Rotorua but he had to earn it by setting/clearing the table, keeping his room tidy and helping tidy the lounge. And it worked!! He has been just awesome :) He is itching to buy some of those Trash Pack things :)

Arte that is really wonderful that he is being easier to manage now. It's sure been a long time coming! LOL at the bribery for the holiday money too. My hat goes off to you for planning a caravaning holiday though. I could not think of anything worse to do with my kids - especially E who is the WORST traveller in the world.

L is feeling pretty chuffed that he is going off to the school, but at the same time he is dealing with the reality that he will be leaving his friends too. But like I keep saying to him, I think it will make him value his friendships more because he will actually have to work at maintaining them instead of taking them for granted like most kids tend to do. Plus being home every weekend means that there will still be times where he can catch up with his mates. At this stage we aren't sure if we will send the others there. Because it is an agricultural high school there is a very strong focus on agricultural subjects and it is compulsory all the way from years 7 to 12, and E just isn't that way inclined at all. So it wouldn't seem right to send her there when she's not really interested in it, if that makes sense. Plus I would see it as taking a place away from another child who really wants to go there. But P and A will probably go there. That is a long way off yet though!

Cass I miss my own bed after only a week or two on holidays LOL! When you first come home you will feel like a tourist here I reckon.

Arte: ohhhh a caravaning holiday sounds like super fun to me! It is something that DH and I want to do one day back in Oz with the kids.
Planning for that holiday *may* help ease the bitter disappointment of DH going to Finland...on his own...ok, maybe it wont :rofl: bloomin' heck, i wanna go for a 2 week work trip somewhere like finland lol.

we have also started pocket money while in Italy and it is going really well. she only has to put her bowl in the sink, make her bed and put her clothes away (like in the wash or hanging up etc), but i think it is enough for her at this stage. she loves that she gets to spend it on whatever she wants too...even really really crappy trinkets that i almost pass out at hahahahaha.

Trill: I guess as well that L will also make good friends at the new school too. In such a small intake there will such great opportunities to connect with a good group of kids that are, no doubt, like-minded ITMS.

Arte - so glad that you are going through a good stage with W. I love easy bedtimes, with K just recently dropping her naps (only 3 this week!) she just crashes at night time and I feel like DH and I have so much more time in the evenings. DH has also said that these holidays are going really well with K and he's coping really well after a week.

Trill - Also, L will make so many more friends. At my school the boarders were really close because they spent so much time together. Do they have day students there or are they all boarders (weekly and full time)?

Cass - we don't get 'it's not fair', but we are still getting WHY!! That has been a super long stage..... And I am so jealous of your warm weather, we've had 3 frosts this week which is so unusual for us.

Going to a 40th birthday tomorrow. It's a long lunch, 5 courses, 3 French champagnes, 2 Australian sparkling. Miss K is spending the afternoon/evening with MIL thankfully.

Cally, how did the birthday party go? That sounds very extravagant!

Cass, I see your bump is progressing very nicely! Summer trip not easing the bitterness of staying home while DH goes overseas, but so far have my head in the sand about it - even though it is only 3-4 weeks away. Just avoiding the issue will make it all better lol.

Trill, sounds like our E's are opposites! Mine is my easiest kid, just an absolute pleasure to be around. A couple of years ago I would have rather poked out my eyeballs with a rusty fork than travel more than a stone's throw with my kids, but they are all fine now. I have planned it so we would only do 3ish hours of driving on travel days and quite a few non-travel days in between so hopefully... :crossfingers:

We went up to Rotorua and spent the weekend with the IL's. Amelia has clung to them like a limpet, I pretty much can't even speak to her without her screeching "no mum!" at me whilst being sweet as honey to her grandparents. Starting to p!ss me off actually.
But A stayed with them in their room for her first ever sleepover on the first night, then on the second night W stayed over too! First time ever in his life that he slept away from us! We went on the gondola and luge which was good fun, and the kids spent heaps of time with the IL's so DH and I got some time together for the first time in years.

Hoping to utilize the g.parents visit to get an assignment done :)

Arte: oh the rotorua trip sounds like it went really well :dance: and Yay for great sleep-over success!! What did the kids think of it?

Oh, and head in the sand is my style woman lol. DH has a whole bunch of conferences coming up and i just stick my fingers in my eyes and turn on the 'elevator' music in my head hahahaha. although i am desperately hoping to win lotto or something so that i can go to either (or both!) the conference in South Africa or Chile...

Cally: how did the gorgeous sounding birthday party go? I am a little envious lol.

AFM: only like 2 weeks to go now before we come home :dance:
we had a lovely night last night as good Oz friends who are living in florence came over for the day/night and we managed to get one of the grandparents to watch the girls last night so we went out for a Big Person dinner at this restaurant that is just spectacular. it cooks only 12th century Pisan dishes so is this land and sea combination that is heavily influenced by african spices etc (pisa was a BIG naval power going around rampaging the lands in those days). delicious!

Trill you must still be stoked about L being accepted into his school - such a bright little guy! I hear you on the uni motivation, my semester has just started and I'm in full "ignore" mode LOL. Good luck, you're getting so close to getting through. xxx

BTW, have you seen your dr yet re prolapse? I hear ya on the (as I call it) peri-peri menopause (You can sing along to the Nandos "peri-peri chicken" song LOL). Is there a chance your symptoms are related to your methotrexate treatment? You're a bit on the young side, otherwise, really hope for you that it's not that. xxx I've been doing a bit of reading about Remifemin (black cohosh) which sounds like da bomb. Might be worth considering once you've had it all checked out.

Arte - full commiserations over your DH's upcoming trips o/s. So so wrong that we're not jetting around the globe. But don't worry darling, our time will come too. PS it is totally worth talking to a GP re your downstairs probs. When you get past the burning shame it turns out they treat lots of other women for the same thing and it's just another day another fanny to them. LOL. Just sayin'. BTW how did your exam go?

Cass, I've been living vicariously through your photos on FB... the light is so bright! When are you heading "home" again? Your 12th century Pisan restaurant sounds amazing, very memorable.

I too am in love with the notion of a caravanning (or, specifically, a winnebago PMSL) holiday, except in my head it's just DH and driving around having a lovely time together. Maybe retirement. BTW I agree 100% with the 3 hour driving blocks - NZ is fabulous for that.

Cally that 40th sounds lovely! Proper grownup entertainment...reminds me that I completely forgot to celebrate mine...

Our 20th anniversary is coming up fast but I don't think DH is very organised so we might be chewing takeaway pizza morosely to celebrate.

All going well with houseguests. 9 yo much more even tempered now she's on an insulin pump instead of the constant needles regime. They've all been playing beautifully together, ah, it warms the ****les of my heart. :)

I'im glad the visit is going well MD. Do you think it was the actual needles making her play up a bit or the peaks and troughs of the insulin? I wish my kids had a cousin their age. The ones they do have are all younger and 3 of them are total horrors! You spend the entire time stopping them from breaking things :/

I saw a DR yesterday - had to have a pappy-schmear (as he says it) and asked him about a bladder prolapse and he said yep, definitely one there. Its not the MTX, just the fact that I had 4 fat babies. So I have a referral to my Gyno and I will need surgery to fix it because when he got me to bear down, the wall actually came out of the vagina. It doesn't bother me a lot, but I have bugger all continence - especially during sport and occasionally it feels like something is *there*. But it's only been the past year or so that it's gotten bad so it could be a combination of things making it worse. I guess changing hormone levels could affect it? Dunno. But now I have the peri-peri chicken ad in my head :lol:

CASS! OMG at only 2 weeks until you come home! It really doesn't feel like you've been away that long. The dinner sounded gorgeous. THat's one thing I hate about living out here - there is just nowhere nice to eat.

Arte, don't take it personally about A. Grandparents rule and there is nothing you can do to change it LOL. So what did you two do with your alone time? I would have slept :lol: Hope you get some uni work done too.

Cally, the school is only a boarding school - they don't take day students at all. When we went to the open day, the closeness that all the students have is one of the things that totally sold me on the place.

The birthday party was pretty good, although I forgot to tell them DH doesn't eat shellfish so he couldn't eat the first 3 (of 6) courses. He doesn't like making a big deal of it because he just doesn't like it, rather than being allergic. I think if he was allergic I would remember more often though.

Trill - wow, that is certainly a prolapse. Is the surgery pretty easy? (I've no idea). Will you be able to use your PHI to get it done quicker?

Cass - wow, only 2 weeks!! Has the Italy trip been a lot shorter than the US one? At least L will be back with lots of time for the whole school stuff and you to do all your nesting.....

Thai takeaway for dinner tonight..... Can hardly wait!

Cass, I would totally spew if DH went to Chile without me! Finland sminland, it isn't really a place that has ever drawn me - and I have specifically avoided aunty google because I don't want to know what I am missing out on. Not long now until you get home :)

MD, LMAO @ another day, another fanny! Not bothering me much atm so I can live in denial for a bit longer :)
I saw a winnebago while searching the net for a caravan to hire and thought of you. Too cool for us though - we are going for the $200 per week el cheapo caravan, not the $300 per day luxury campers.
Got 66% in the exam. Only worth 15% of the course. Could have been better, but could have been worse so I guess I am happy with it.

Trill, I was just talking with my IL's about how my kids have no cousins and are very likely to have none for another 10ish years :(
Is that the surgery where they put a mesh thing in the wall to hold it all up?
We used our time alone to watch a crappy movie on t.v that we had already seen before lmao! We still had E, and she wakes all night anyway so sleep isn't really on the cards for me these days.

Cally, I love thai. We managed to get through the whole weekend away with eating good meals aka no McD's! We even went out to restaurants for dinner - indian and mexican.

The builders have finally finished my house repairs off so hopefully we can finish the last couple of bits and pieces and get it on the market in the next couple of weeks (touch wood, last time I said that it didn't quite work out!).

Trill, no I knew the prolapse wasn't MTX-related :lol:, but I wondered about the peri-menopause stuff. I reckon you're on the money about changing menopause levels having an effect.

Cally, your poor DH watching the dishes go past...kinda funny though.

Arte, when is DH leaving for Finland schminland? Mine's home for a while now, glad because that last trip nearly killed me. Glad your builders have finished, that took quite a while. Your pocket money thing was a brainwave alright. Miss E is very interested in money ATM, and in fact we had our first instance of petty theft the other week when she squirreled $6 in loose change home from FDC where the carer gave them the money to play shops with. LOL. Mind you her little friend was in cahoots with her too.

Well big weekend here. DH swept me away for an ultra romantic night away, complete with Moet and roses, for our 20th anniversary. (*swoons*) It was lovely.

Back to work tomorrow. Sigh.

Aw man, WTG MD on the romance!!!!!!! oh la la :loveshower:

Trill: is it going to be major surgery or is a day thing? what about rehab stuff? thank goodness that you got it checked out! i think i will be too scared to look down there after this baby is born lol. although i have been trying to do my 5 squats a day (apparently the 'new' kegels lol).

Arte: oh i know what you mean about getting 66%...it's a frustrating one as you can't be cross, but also think...soooo close to being better lol. but for a 15% it's will serve you well.

Cally: yeah, the italy trip has been drastically reduced! it was meant to be 5 months, then it was 10 weeks, and now it will only be 5 weeks. we had no choice on the return as everyone here is flying out to Hong Kong lol. so had to get the only available tickets and upgrade to premium economy (whatever that means lol).

AFM: all good here! had a lovely day visiting an old professor of DHs that we get along famously with; so nice to get away from the usual family stuff and do something different :lol: I am totally on countdown now...although i am looking forward to my last shopping trip in florence. this time i am determined to bring something home hahaha.
been getting some totally awesome kicks and rolls from the baby too!! so happy, took AGES this time! considering that Miss M made her presence known well and truly by 12 weeks, i was totally freaked when this one was acting all 'first pregnancy' on me hahahaha.

MD, hope you had a fantastic 20th anniversary! What a milestone! Did you know what he was planning?
Sminland is on the 9th of next month. I should be alright this time. The big kids aren't too bad sleep wise atm. Hopefully E will be sleeping better by then too (I can always dream...). Better than last time when both the kids weren't sleeping and I was 7 months preg. Don't think I will ever forgive DH for that one, considering it was only a conference he didn't have to attend.

Cass, E was slow to get going too - I felt W at 15ish weeks, A at 13 weeks and E was still barely moving by the 20 week scan. Yay for getting more movement now :)

Back to kindy today :) A seems to have grown up a lot over the holidays and is talking more and complying with the teachers instead of shrieking at them lol.
Will start weekly school visits on Wednesday - it is only 8 weeks until he starts!! He is getting a bit worried about it but the visits should help.

Well, didn't do the school visit this week. The morning went bust with a 1.5 hour ordeal over pants and by the time we got to kindy he was upset and surly. Will try again on a more positive day. I stuffed up there forcing the issue about pants. I should have just let him wear the tattered old ones for the next couple of months and saved us both a boat load of stress :( I think I will try to bow out gracefully and let him wear the damn things. I waver between 'they are only pants, it isn't a big deal as long as he is happy' and 'just wear the new f*****g pants!!!'. Very frustrating.

Got welcomed into middle age today with a diagnoses of gall stones :( I have had a tight/burning pain in my upper back for a few weeks and had slowly become convinced that the breast lumps that I have been ignoring for the last few months had spread everywhere lol. But nope, just some not likely to be anything serious lumps and some gallstones. Suddenly wishing I had PHI though, looks like a long wait for the scan to confirm the gallstones and a surgeon visit to see if they want to do anything about the lumps.
Not sure if I can face life with no sugar and no fat, so looks like burning discomfort is my new friend lol. I had an attack a few months back but thought it was indigestion/impending death at the time lol, fingers crossed that doesn't happen again - way more painful than childbirth!

Hope the week is treating everyone well.

Bugger Arte! That would suck bigtime! Arte, what are you going to do about a school uniform for W? Or do they just wear casual clothes? Hope the visit happens next time :)

MD, the date would have been lovely. And Happy Anniversary too! 20 years these days is a massive achievement.

Cass, I think it depends on what they do as to how long you're in hospital. Some are a day surgery, some are 2-3 days and another method is 3-6 days stay. I'm really hoping that they can do it laparoscopicly and not have to cut through the vaginal wall to put the mesh in. I think there will be physio afterwards too, similar to after you have a baby.

Thanks everyone for the congratulations. Yes I did know what was planned, I suggested it to him, but then I tried to forget everything I knew and act surprised. LOL. Secret to a happy marriage.

Trill - 20 years as a massive achievement... I know, I feel like some kind of veteran :lol:. Those surgery options sound like it's going to be pretty involved. Here's hoping they can do the least invasive version of repair for you, it's not just the days in hospital but more days translates to longer recuperation afterwards too.

Arte, my fullest commisserations on your gallstoney status :hug:. Whatever you do, do NOT have fish and chips. Or indian food. I found that I could handle anything up to about 10g of fat in a single sitting (eg main meal) without getting an attack, esp if it was good veggie oils, the saturated fat was the worst trigger. No probs at all with sugar or carbs. I kept a store of lean cuisine dinners on hand for when I couldn't think up a low fat version of the usual dinner, and I weighed and measured everything else fanatically. And my secret weapon is an off the shelf drug called buscopan, I found out about just before I got my gallbladder out, it's a wonder drug, it stops the waves of spasming/writhing/vomiting that causes the impending death sensation. My other gallstone attack tip involves the use of maxolon (take it first so you can keep the pain meds/buscopan down) and if not a mouthful of gaviscon helps the vom come out tasting fresh and minty LOL. And what's this about breast lumps? Aaaaargh I can only imagine how much that's been weighing on you especially knowing all the palaver that I went through :hug:. I take you've had some prelim scans (mammo/ultrasound) which is why your doc is happy to send you along to the surgeon at a leisurely rate?

Cass, are you happy about coming home, or disappointed that your stay in Italia has been cut so short?

Hello girls!

MD: man, what a sweet thing to be swept off your feet for a romantic night away...aaahhhhh! :loveshower:

I will be so happy to be home :) i am NOT looking forward to the 30+ hours of straight travel. in fact, i am breaking out in a cold sweat just thinking about it.
I will be sad that the Big Trip is over and that i am kissing goodbye summer for a little while (i have been spoilt with a continuous summer since november last year basically), but am glad to be leaving Italy in all honesty. The GFC has hit scary hard here and is a bit confronting at times...

Trill: sheesh, some of those are really long hossy stays. here's to a nice, small op and nice, easy going recuperation program :crossfingers:

Arte: oh my goodness woman...you crack me up. you keep your fears of imminent death after an attack all quiet huh? lol. what are wait times like in NZ for surgery? Hopefully nothing like here in Oz.
Is there any way that you can get W to wear the new pants out of school? as a way to break them in? tell him it would be good to get 'em nice and dirty :)

AFM: our final weekend abroad!!! we leave here on tuesday and land in Oz on thursday (did i mention that we bought super tight-bummed tickets :lol:)

MD, lol at acting surprised :) From memory, E had a bit of a hand washing phase a while ago didn't she? Did it resolve on its own?
No scan or mammogram for the boob, he is referring me straight to the surgeon. I thought that was a bit odd?
Thanks for the gallstone tips. I generally just have an ache between my shoulder blades that comes and goes. It is the prospect of more of those attacks that feel like someone is twisting a knife in your back that is really not appealing. The Dr mentioned something about in the next 6 months - I can live with it if it stays mild. Will be sure to stay away from the fish and chips. They are pretty crappy in town anyway.

Far out, I don't even want to think about the uniform. It won't just be the pants, it will be everything. Just hoping that he will wear it because everyone else does!

Cass, hope your flight goes well. Has your morning sickness passed?

Arte, is is the texture of the new fabric he doesn't like (because it's not soft/worn in)? You could try soaking them in Epsom salts or washing salts like people do to break their towels in. Just a thought.

Not the texture :( He just says he isn't used to them. He won't even give new clothes a try, he has no idea what they feel like!

I can only imagine how blindingly infuriating that must be!! Mind you, DD1 has a persistant habit of having me buy clothes for her, they come home, are washed, go into the wardrobe/drawers, and are never seen again until she pulls them out 18 months later and declares they are now too small for her :wall:. Drives... me..... INSANE!!! :lol: Luckily Miss E is a happy clothing experimenter, she's likes to riffle through her drawers and chose what to wear, she happily mixes and matches according to her own sense of what looks nice together, in a way that DD1 *never* did (she was always obsessed with things not "matching" according to her own weird rules about colour and nothing else). She must've inherited her father's dress sense. Le sigh. Thank the gods I'm not a fashionista kinda yummy mummy type or the poor kid would be in therapy by now PMSL.

The hand washing must've resolved itself because I can't remember it now. Although she did do a step by step demonstration in the middle of dinner last night of the 5 steps of correct handwashing as taught by Jane The Kindy Teacher :rofl:. And we do seem to be going through *very* large amounts of liquid hand soap, so maybe she just enjoys the soap pump aspect of it. Tidy little detail-oriented virgo that she is :).

Arte - investigation of gallstones within a 6 mth timeframe seems reasonable provided you're not having the acute attacks. If they start up make sure you get on the phone and make noises about being seen earlier. Re the breast surgeon, is that in the private or public system? In the public system here women wait anything up to 4 weeks (but usually less than 2 weeks) to be seen the first time but subsequent tests etc tend to happen pretty quickly after that. When can you expect to find out when your appointment date is?

Cass - good luck for the flight. May the transit gods shine upon you with spare seats, complimentary upgrades and most of all clean toilets. :hug:

MD, public waiting list. Dr didn't give a time frame for the boob but I assume it will be in the next 3-5 weeks while DH is away so I have to take all three kids with me lol. I did have a pap smear a couple of months ago with both girls sitting on the bed with me and W chatting away the whole time - no privacy at all these days!!
That would be entirely infuriating having clothes outgrown before they are worn. I know A has inherited a few of W's clothes that he barely wore.

LOL that sounds a bit like my DH's trips - always timed for maximum inconvenience LOL. I sometimes call him the King of Bad Timing.

Ahhh MD, your travel blessing is welcomed enthusiastically! we already have an upgrade to premium economy (whatever that means...like what? served first lol?!), and have super awesome transit times (phew!) but it does make for one looonnnggg trip.

we have the opposite with the handwashing and i have to follow Miss L to the bathroom door to make sure that afterwards she washes her hands. (arte, you have amazing memory...i now remember MD mentioning Es handwashing lol).

Arte: man, and here i was thinking that i was rocking the whole mama thang while having Miss M on my belly and Leila beside me while i got an eyebrow wax :rofl:

Thankfully the MS has passed :dance: i cannot imagine doing this trip with MS on top...

AFM: well, we had a very eventful day at the playground yesterday; poor Miss M took a major fall from a 5 foot wall onto sharp rocks and cut the back of her head open in quite a deep and nasty fashion. being a head wound we were both completely soaked within seconds (yes, i was wearing a white t-shirt!). a big rush to hospital and she has had stitches put in (didnt cry when they did that without anaesthetic :o). we slept beside her last night for concussion watch, but she woke up this morning right as rain. i am worried about her finding the stitches though as they had to keep the string quite long because of all her hair. but hopefully she will forget about (and pigs might fly!). the gross thing is that i cannot wash her hair out for a few days....eeewwwwwww. it's funny because when it happened i was totally calm and had all my senses (while DH was like a chook with its head chopped off lol) but then that night i broke down. it was really scary seeing her fall like that...

Cass, that must have been horrible watching her fall. I hope she screamed straight away, not that hideous silence that lasts forever when they are hurt really bad :(
I always used to have a fantastic memory - used to just read something once and I could be guaranteed a good mark in exams but these days with no sleep I suck.

MD, thanks again for all your advice. I will get some of that Buscopan to have on standby. I am terrified of those attacks! Hopefully I can get away without having any more, but will certainly try the Gaviscon for minty fresh puke if the need arises :)

I have just finished booking the caravan and ferry for our South Island holiday :) Three whole weeks, via Nelson, Franz Josef to see BIL and go on a helicopter ride, a few days in Central Otago, down to Gore for DH's granny's 80th, then up to Dunedin (Cadbury factory :)), Christchurch and home again. We have planned it so there isn't too much travel on any day, hopefully it will be good fun - the IL's still talk about a trip they did in the North Island when their kids were the age of ours.

Cass - oh, that fall does sound bad, poor little thing. Super good wishes for the travelling.

Arte - don't like the sound of those gallstones. And I hope you get into the boobie surgeon pretty quickly (and of course that it turns out to just be cysts!)

Handwashing - apparently it's not important at home - neither is toilet flushing. And sitting in the back seat making fart noises and saying it's mummy doesn't count as toilet talk either..... Little grot!

Starting dance lessons this weekend. Wonder how long until she isn't attached to my leg. We were at her BFF's party last weekend and it still took her ages to settle in and couldn't play any of the organised party games without hanging on to me. At least there is only one of her - a mum of twins had both of them attached to her leg (she had very impressive balance, I suppose from 4 years of practice with two of them!)

Cally, there is a mum that went to soccer and had to drag her twins around like that :) Dance lessons sound fun. My girls would love that when they are bigger.

Finally managed a school visit today and it went really well. He was happy enough to participate in whatever the class was doing and went out to play with some old kindy friends at morning tea time.
There are only 10 kids in the class and two have part time teacher aides, plus there was a volunteer in there today so there is an amazing ratio.

That is an amazing ratio Arte. Glad it went well.

Cass, that must've been terrifying. So relieved she's ok. Time for y'all to come home once people start falling over!!

Cally, we had nearly 3 years of full-on clinging pretty much any time we went any where where there was a group of people. She seems to have suddenly turned a corner though, I'm not sure if it's new confidence from going to kindy, or what. But suddenly, no more clinging! (huzzah!) HOpe it's a very short-lived phase. What sort of dance lessons are they? Is is a class where the mummies can join in too?

Arte - your holiday sounds FANTASTIC!! Wish I was touring around a bit of NZ. We keep talking about it in a vague kind of way, but we've got too many other tedious expenses we have to deal with first. W's school visit sounds great, he'll have no problems settling right in. Do they go many times? At E's school they only visit twice, for half days, but the first week they actually start school they only go for half the day all week. Helps them cope at bit better. i can't believe it's getting this close, it seems like only a couple of years ago that H was pulling on her oversized uniform for the first time!!

we're back!!!!!

took a LONG LONG LONG time. but we made it home, typhoon and all hahahaha!

will come back on later and have a better chat, but am feeling rather under the weather and totally shagged right now.

Cass, you're adorable! You're dripping with exhaustion after 48 hours of travel straight, and yet you still pop in to let us know you're back!
MWAH!!!

well MD you know that as i flew into Adelaide i took a squiz out the window and was like "so cool! MD is down there somewhere' LOL!

Miss M is TOTALLY freaked out by how many toys we have :ROFL: i wish that you guys could see her, it is just too funny (and a little tragic when she finds herself too overwhelmed with choices lol).

Miss L has been on a super high since we arrived, her voice is this shrill, loud pitch I am waiting for the dump, she cannot sustain this level of happiness hahaha.

Well I hope you were looking just as you came in over the hills because the flight path goes straight past our place. They use North East Road to line the plane up in the right direction for the landing strip.

Awww that's so sweet - what a reaction to being home again! LOL

hello beautiful ladies, I have been thinking of you all so much lately. I have been trying to get 5 minutes to come in and catch up. I should be working but it can wait!
I am not really sure where to start now lol.

Cass I have been loving all your travel photos. Geez you make pregnancy look good.

MD congrats on the 20 years!!

All this talk of school is freaking me out lol. I am so not ready for him to be at school 5 days a week. L on the other hand is more then ready I think. It feels like it has come around so quickly.

AFM Between swimming lessons, kindy and work we don't seem to have time for anything else. We have decided to TTC. First month off the pill this month. AF is a few days late but BFN so far. Hoping it happens after our holiday in September. I soooooo need this holiday lol.

Oz!!! How are ya, honey?! Congrats on your decision to TTC and good luck with it!! When will L be starting school? E won't start until next year so I feel like i've got a little bit of breathing space (aka denial time LOL).

L starts next year too. He is in pre prep now which is a 5 day fortnight. Lol at your denial time

Oz, Hi! I was just thinking of you the other day wondering if hanging out with all those tiny newborns makes you clunky or if they fill the gap. Clucky it is :) Good luck with it. Where are you going on holiday?

Cass, hope the girls are settling back in. When does L go back to work?

Checked Facebook this morning and BIL with the head injury had left a message for me basically saying he was giving up on life because of me, I keep kicking him when he is down, he has lost his brother because of me etc. I called the IL's and sent them to check that he hadn't taken his own life. He was alright luckily. I haven't even talked to him since 1.5 years ago when he smashed our garage door and took off. Last time DH was in the South Island he and his other brother took a 3 hours diversion to go and see him, and he did the boost and wouldn't answer his phone! Mental illness sucks. Sucks more when you are the basis of someone else's paranoia. I guess I had better talk to him and clear the air even though it will be way too much drama for me. I find it really hard to deal with someone that has no logic.