Babies Born ~ September 2007 #72

:hug: Trill. My m/o these days is just to buy the canesten already when I'm getting the script filled for the ABs LOL. I take the probiotics but they never stave it off completely, but where I think they make the most difference is how quickly my tum returns to normal afterwards. The abcess sounds awful, I've not had one of those but you have my full and undivided sympathies if it's anything like the death throes of a tooth in need of a root canal. Hopefully P's leg will heal up quickly and not too much of a scar - although my sister has got a beauty on her leg and how she got it is one of her favorite stories ;) ... even though it gets slightly more dramatic each time I hear it LOL.

Arte, DH had some of those bendy glasses and it used to freak me out every time I saw him flexing them. They were great though, he had a v. bad habit of sitting on them, so they saved us a few $$. BTW I meant to say big phew over your boobies... but if you ever have any doubts make sure you go back and get them checked again. :hug: And I haven't seen much news lately but I did hear there was some volcano action and wondered how all of that was going. Speaking of eruptions, my DH is also a bad one for bringing his work stress home! He doens't even realise when he's doing it. (At least when I'm a crabby stressed out cow I'm aware of it. LOL).

Ginger, that school sounds totally awesome, and exactly the sort of school I always dreamed about especially for H who would do much better in an environment like that.

Cass, good like with the family visiting! I hope it goes smoothly so you can enjoy having them there rather than just rolling through it.

Trill, it's more a case of I've found perspective on it all than actually understanding it any better. And the Dr is totally on the same page with me, which is reassuring. I suspect the grey zone factor may persist (ie I may never really get an answer unless someone wants to put my head inside a functional MRI scanner) but the Doc is totally focussed on finding an effective treatment, regardless of nuances in the whys and wherefores.

E had her second and last school visit today, which went fantastically well again. But I realised how grindingly awful the double drop-off is going to be.

yes, the good old double drop off! It's not too bad where we live - preschool finishes at 3 and the kids finish at 3.15 so I have loads of time to get from point A to point B, but you have to be quick if you want to park within cooee of the school. And the highschool is next door to the primary school, so when L started middle school I parked halfway between them so it all worked out just fine. But next year with L having to catch the bus back to school at either 6am in West Wyalong which is 42kms away, or 7.20am at Beckom which is only 23kms away when DH is working on shift is going to be tricky. We worked it out that there will be 21 Mondays where this will happen LOL. But there is another family down the road from us who send their boys to a different boarding school but still go on the same bus and they have offered to take L which will be a huge help.

My friend just left :( I am sad.

Lucky for me the school is just on the other side of kindy, so it is all within 100m of our front door step. I guess I will drop off W first and then A, but it probably won't be as easy as I plan because W will want me to stay. I am hoping he will bike there on his own after a bit of settling in time.

Arte - hope you are doing ok now without your friend. It's tough and I can imagine only worse in a smaller place
ginger - so wonderful the school is going so well. It sounds divine :-)all the school settling in is so amazing, I just can't believe all our kids are so big
we had the prep info night the other week and yesterday I got Jakey's enrollment packs and class lists for kinder next year. It's enough to make me clucky.
Noah is super excited for prep - especially for me buying his uniform!

Cass - how you doing? Is Emilia settling into the family well? How are you finding being a super mum of 3?

All is well here. Dh is away again! And as I am in the peak period at work and running what is increasingly a huge business (I now hAve 3000 staff!) I am flat out. The boys are staying at my in laws tonight as I am so busy at work - so I am treating myself to Indian takeaway and a relax session. I need it.
dh will be back on sat but has a lot of travel before Xmas - we will need our holiday!
i think he also has a few trips in jan and feb...... Aaarrrrgggghhhh!

MP - wow, you are crazy busy!!

Man MP, I always get tired reading about your life! You manage full time very busy work, a DH that is away and the kids. All I have to manage is a 2 minute stroll to kindy every morning - and I am always late!

As I suspected W is fine now that his friend is actually gone. He always gets stressed and upset leading up to an event and then after it has happened a calm returns. I guess that is the definition of anxiety isn't it. I won't be missing those hysterical drop-of-a-hat tantrums, enjoying the quiet while it lasts :)

Lambs are gone. Thanks again to Trill who helped me with my vomiting and diarrhoea issues with them :)

Arte: ah bum that your friend has gone :( i miss terribly our LA friends...email is great but not the same as hanging out together.

MP: 3000? dude. talk about responsibility! My DH had to pull out of two OS trips for Dec and Jan....i so wish we could of all gone: one was in chile and the other in Sth. Africa. but havng a baby threw that plan off course lol.
Miss E is settling in wonderfully. we are in the newborn madness but thankfully having BTDT 2 times before both DH snd i are rolling with it really well. my biggest joy is knowing how awesome it will be in a few months as Miss E gets that little bit bigger and can interact with her big sisters that bit more. i really look forward to seeing them play together and share their lives ITMS.

Trill, how did L go at the hostel?

Cass, surviving the family visit?

MD, how are you going in the sleep department?

First of December, Christmas is coming up fast. I wonder if I should get the tree out today? It seems like a whole world of hassle with a busy toddler around.

our tree is up! all 45cms of it hahahaha.

Arrrrrrghhhhhh. A meltdown because there wasn't enough margarine on his bread!! I am so sick of it, so sick of him. I totally lost my nut at him, said some horrible things. No wonder the poor kid is ****ed in the head.

Arte, dude :hug: I reckon the majority of us have BTDT :( sucks butt but there is a cracking point and when you have no option to release it is bound to happen from time to time. i have no real advice on how to avoid it. i just beg to the gods that i dont lose my nut again when i have cracked it and been irrational. my only rule is to then go outside and do some fun fresh air activity.

we've been getting some pretty amazing meltdowns with DD1 lately. i am blaming all the upset of a new baby and houseguests so am just biding my time...

Arte - hugs. Yep, pretty sure we've all been there.

Cass - 45 cm tree! Sounds gorgeous! We did ours today, I think we'd both been dreading it, but a 5 year old is so much more useful than a 4 year old was!

So on top of my continuing crappy sleeps (was walking the streets at 5:30am the other day), I now have a coldsore. Not impressed. Fingers crossed I haven't inadvertently passed it on to DD. Thought it was just some dry skin.

The whole family had naps today. DD has had a week of early starts too and DH was just having his usual Sunday nap.

Only three more weeks until holidays.....

Cally, do you have to start work early atm? Make sure you cut down on protein to help get rid of that coldsore (protein feeds the virus).

Cass, thanks. How do you deal with the meltdowns? DH and I are at the end of our ropes. The week started off so well but has gone south again. I wish that there was someone that could help us with some decent techniques for managing it. He is a really nice kid, doesn't really misbehave but then loses it over insignificant things. It is so draining :(

Trill, did your tooth get better?

MD, did you decide to take a summer paper?

Arte, don't blame yourself for the way he is, that's just silly talk. The meltdowns suck, but I honestly don't think you'd be able to do much except for ride them out. When they get to that point nothing is going to help :hug: I think when it's bad it's only natural to snap at him and I'm sure he wont hold it against you or make him worse. Maybe the whole friend leaving thing is still playing on him a little and it has put him out of sorts?

I usually get the tree out on the last day of school as a surprise for the kids when they come home, so it is usually about a week before. A 45cm tree would look super cute though Cass :)

Ewww Cally! I hate coldsores. Maybe you got lucky and didn't pass it on to her? It's that crappy time of year when everyone is really starting to feel tired isn't it? I am counting down the days till the 19th that's for sure!

Yep, my tooth did get better and no sign of thrush either touch wood! But I was mainlining yakult while I was taking the abs so I think they may have helped. L's orientation was AWESOME!!! Such a full on few days but I think we both made new friends LOL. Some of the Mums are really lovely and others are pretty :o but overall they are OK. I am just so impressed with the school though. The things he will be able to do just blow the local highschool out of the water! They have their own cattle stud and they are starting their own sheep stud as well and he's super interested in that and the whole show stock side of things as well where they get to travel to the big three shows (Sydney royal, Melbourne and Adelaide) to show the sheep. Even just their subject content is fantastic and the teachers are so enthusiastic! They certainly make me feel less anxious about the whole thing. And he was pretty excited and can't wait to get back there next year.

Trill, that school sounds fantastic! How awesome having the stud farm - so it is basically a working farm? And the kids get experience in all farming aspects while at high school? That is just fantastic for kids that want to go into the industry. It will put him miles ahead of kids that go to a local and then try to move into farm work. That would be ideal for all vocations really, if kids could study their interests in high school rather than struggling through subjects that are no use to them.

Maybe we will do the tree on the last day of kindy, around the 21st. Other years with a toddler we have sat it on top of the wood burner so little hands can't pull bits of glittery crap all over the house.

It's a fully working farm - they grow lucerne for hay which is a nice little earner for them and basically pays the operating costs of running the sheep and beef cattle. They also run pigs and chickens. There is about 220ha of land right on the murrumbidgee river. Every single student is expected to help out in some way on the farm part and they work a rotating roster to muck out the pigs and look after the other stock. All the animal husbandry is done by the kids too - so shearing, crutching, marking, drenching etc. Plus in years 9 and 10 they put them through a wool classing course at TAFE, so you have 15-16 year old kids leaving school with their wool classing stencil and able to go straight into a field of work if they want to be a wool classer. There is just so much that they can do that will see them leave school work ready kwim? If they want to have a gap year then they have a means to support themselves. They do really push for University as well. They have a really good equine horse program too if you're into that sort of thing and the kids are allowed to have their own horses kept there.

I want to go to that school! It sounds awesome. I so love the idea of coming out of school with useable qualifications in the area you want to work in. Bet you are all feeling happy with the decision :)

Trill - that school just sounds awesome. Wish I could count down to the 19th, but we all finish on the 21st here.

Arte - no, not having to start work early at the moment. I've just been taking advantage of being awake so early that I can go for a walk and get some exercise at the start of the day as I am so stuffed by the end of it all I can do is lie on the couch.

Last orientation day tomorrow.

Hiya lovelies, just wanted to pop in and say hello, have been wanting to post all week but in a massive turnaround for me, my mind is nimble but it's the body that has been exhausted. I think the meds are helping my brain but I might not be taking a high enough dose yet to fix the tiredness. Anyway, gotta run, week is only going to get crazier with ILs arriving, but I'm hanging out for a catch up with you girls. Xxx

Hi MD! I was just thinking about you. I hear you on the body tired. I can't seem to shake that exhausted feeling, even when my mind is with it. Do you have good IL's?
Bummer about E's kindy concert. Mine are going to perform at a cultural festival on Friday - they are doing the story of how Maui fished up the North Island and W is Maui lol. The other older/leader boys have moved on to school or away recently so it has fallen on him. He should be alright. Hopefully lol. A is a putiputi (flower).

Cally, how did the last orientation go?

I have just booked in W's leaving party for next friday :( It is all coming to an end. There is a week of kindy after that but lots of kids don't show for the last week. Me, I will be there until the final day because it is hard work having them at home!

I can never quite believe how quickly December goes. It seems it has just started and then all of a sudden Christmas is here and another year is over.

What is everyone doing for Christmas this year? We are just staying local, perhaps a day at the river if the weather is good. No family coming so it is just us.

I think December goes so quickly because everyone is hanging out for Christmas day, but it's really a week before the end of the month. So you hit Christmas and you think December is over, when in reality there is a still a week to go, but seeing as that is spent in a turkey hangover, it's all good.

Last orientation went well. She is so ready. They made these little booklets showing them important things around the school and they put Miss K's picture on the front page, then one of her and her buddy on the next page. I spent the afternoon listening to 'I miss my buddy' so they must have hit it off.

Christmas up in Canberra this year. I might sneak up a bit early, school friend is back from USA for her 2 yearly visit so would like to catch up with her. Will spend about a week there, then back here for a week of hopefully sun and beach before work again.

Wish me luck - E might have the pox which would put a serious damper on all the playgroup/kindy/work/town xmas partys/parades/festivals over the next week or so.

Cally, catching up with high school friends is great. Hope you catch some good weather. How is your dad doing now?

Got my delegated kids into bed early. DH is in the dining room playing chess with William. He has picked it up pretty quickly. I remember teaching/forcing my brother to play when he was that age so I had someone to play with lol

ETA, uni results are finally out - I got a B (a credit in Aus-speak). Not too bad considering the serious lack of time I put into it. At least I am maintaining a B average in case I want to do post grad.

Awesome results Arte. Miss K loves playing chess, she keeps trying to teach me, but I just can't get into it. That's what geeky Dad's are for. He is getting some super fancy chess set for Christmas that arrived yesterday. Looks awesome, I should get heaps of time to myself in January as they will be too busy with that.

DH admitted last night that he just can't cope with the trampoline yet and that he is being irrational. So it's on hold, he thinks he might be OK for birthday. So now we just have to think of something else.....

Really, really, really hope that E doesn't have pox.

Looks like it might not be the pox thankfully. She has some spots but they don't seem to be turning into anything.

I would love a cool chess set. I have seen some really nice ones around. Might be something for later when there aren't a heap of little kids around with touching hands.

Bummer about the trampoline. At least he recognises that it is an irrational fear lol. Fingers crossed for the birthday.

The chess set came from House of Staunton (google it). We got one with little drawers underneath for all the pieces. Apparently it was a replice of one used in some famous chess tournament. When he was pulling it out last night he was telling me all these little 'facts' about it - he was obviously very excited.

Arte: phew! lucky break that it's not pox...it's not measles i hope?

i was/am too crap and therefore impatient to play chess :lol:

awesome to hear that you are doing well at uni...despite lack of serious optimal conditions...ie kids lol.

Cally: we are doing the beach thang in wollongong this year. looking forward to some warmth and sunshine TBH.

Hello lovelies! Just thought I would pop by to say hello!!
I had the pleasure of meeting JM and her gorgeous girls this morning...are you all jealous lol.

Cass how are you going? I hope your ok.

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I had the pleasure of meeting JM and her gorgeous girls this morning...are you all jealous lol.

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Yes. Yes I am :P

We're on the downhill run to the end of the school year now - 8 days and counting! L has his graduation dinner tonight and then there will be presentation day on Wednesday. One of the kids is getting an award but I don't know which one! I hate it when the school does that LOL

Cass, I hope you are feeling a lot better by now. Make sure that you don't try to do too much - it's not the time to be playing Superwoman. I found that as soon as I tried to do anything more than move around to feed P and go to the loo, I was completely knackered.

Cass, I hope you are feeling alright and that the big kids are managing without their mumma :hug:

Oz, very jealous! Bet you all had a great time.

So, a bit of advice please. E is telling me if she needs to do wee or poo and if I take her nappy off she will sit on the potty for 5-30 seconds before she is off again. Within a few minutes she will have an accident on the floor so she can obviously tell that she needs to go. Yesterday she told me and managed a wee on the potty. Should I keep going with it, or should I leave it until after our trip? I don't want to teach her to just go in her pants, but I also don't want to take a half trained kid on a caravan trip!

Pretty sad that I am having more luck toilet training an almost 15 month old than I am with the 3 year old!

I would leave it until you come back. She is only little so there's no real rush, especially if she seems to be picking it up quite quickly. It will be a PITA to deal with it while you're away.

hi girls!

back home! did too much already...post office and coles :redface:. now totally knackered. i am so stupid at times!! ah well, live and learn.

oz: totally jealous! we all need to do a catchup!

Arte: if she is happy to wait i would wait until you are back. that said, i wouldnt stop her from trying while you are away, i just wouldnt be proactively trying itms.

AFM: totally knackered. it all happened quite quickly on saturday afternoon when i was bf miss E on the bed. i stood up and felt this bug whoosh like you get when your waters break...in fact my first thought was that, then 'hang on, cant be..omg i'm incontinent' lol. and thats when i saw the blood. like a b-grade horror film. called my IM who told me to lie down and check flow (it stopped coming after the first gush) and call her in an hour to update yada yada. nothing more happened, called her to say so, hung up and bam! another huge gush called her again and she told me to call ambulance immediately, while she called hossy to give heads up. frikkin' awful feeling being that woozy i tell ya! i felt so normal at first but very quickly got the dizzies, yukko.

Oh Cass that sounds do scary. So glad your home now though. Make sure you look after yourself.
A group catch up would be so awesome.

Arte I would probably hold off till after the trip. How awesome tho that she's picking it up so early.

Trill are you looking forward to all the kids being at school next year?

Just jumping on to with cass a lot of rest and to feel better. How awfully scary for you. Please take it easy.
today is Noah's last day ever of kinder - cant believe it. He has his uniform all ready to go and they went upstairs to visit prep classrooms yesterday... Exciting!
dh is away again from today til the 19th... Worst timing!
i am flat out.., can't wait to hit the road on the 22nd for 2 weeks of r and r. I need it BAD

where are you guys off to MP?

I seriously cannot believe that our babies are finishing up at kinder...and about to go to prep. It feels really weird.

We are just off to the morningtn peninsula for 2 weeks. Can explain how much I need it tho.
Some sad news my great uncle died suddenly yesterday. I am devastated -we were v close they are like a third set of grandparents to me. We are gon to the USA in sept sk the could meet my boys- am so sad I left it too late for him. He an my aunt are just amazing, I am hoping she doesn't deteriorate now.
On happier things we had j end f hr concert today. Divine. Took the afternoon off so then spent the afternoon at home w the boys having water fights and made a dinner w veggies from our garden. The perfect tonic to all my stress, tension and upset.

MP, sorry to hear about your g.uncle :hug: I hope you have an awesome trip away.

Awwww MP, that's really sad about your Uncle. :hug: Is your D able to come home in light of what's happened? It would be hard to cope with that on your own.

Cass, how are you feeling? I had a thought last night that maybe you can look into getting some tea from Julie Bell. I'm sure she does something for rebuilding iron levels.

A doesn't have his preschool concert until next wednesday. I'm going to be a mess. My last ever baby to finish preschool :( L had his graduation dinner on Monday night and he looked so grown up in his tie LOL. And I still have a smile on my face thinking about how well he's done this year. Even though we knew he was in with a really good shot at Dux, there were about 6 kids that it could have gone to because they were just all so hard working this year and so smart. But in the end they ended up with two - L and his best mate which was awesome. They work it out on a points score based on assessments and they both got the same result. So they were both really really happy. We're going to get him something to reward him for all his hard work. He would love an ipod touch but we've always said no, but I think he's well and truly earnt it. And P's award was so special too. She is just a lovely girl and so kind and conscientious and really deserving of it. They both got book vouchers as gifts so they have been planning what to spend it on. P got $25 and L got $50.

That is really awesome Trill.

W has his farewell at kindy tomorrow. I am gonna cry :( Hoping I can hold it together, but probably not lol

ETA, Cass, how cool is it that your grandfather is on FB! Mine still yells into the landline lol

Hugs MP xx

Trill your kids are awesome. L has definitely earned an iPod lol.

We have L's last kindy day tomorrow. It's definitely going to be sad. We had meet the teacher day at his big school yesterday. It was just the last hour of the day. L just kept asking when we're they going to go outside to play lol. A few mums knew each other and I was a little sad that I didn't know anyone.

Oz, you'll get to know them fairly quickly I'm sure.

MP - Hugs

Trill - such very clever kiddies.