Babies born~September 2007 #58

Arte - thanks for asking. Dad saw the specialist yesterday and he definitely has prostate cancer and it has spread to his bladder wall. It is not curable, but it is treatable - but I don't know how long for.... He is on medication and has to have injections as well. I think they reasses in 3 months time. So last night was a bit upsetting after mum rang to tell me (he wasn't up for talking apparently) Will need to talk to him and mum again to get the story again probably, not sure how much I took in.

Cass and Ange - big hugs out to you guys.

Arte - so glad the sleeping looks like it is getting better. And really glad that DH now knows that 4am is not a wake up time!! What was he thinking!!

MD - well done on the interview, good luck!!

Other than that, all good here. Had a day in Sydney on Tuesday for work, but did get to experience the Esprit sales and got 3 new jumpers for the wardrobe!!

Looking forward to having tomorrow off. Am booked in for a facial. Might have to do some mulch shovelling as well.....

:hug: Cally, that is a lot for your family to digest. I hope that the treatment works for him. Will he have to have surgery on his bladder and have a bag from now on? J's cancer was originally of the bladder and they removed it and he had to have a bag.

Cally, so sorry about your dad! But you said that he overcame advanced bowel cancer so his body must respond well to treatment so that must be a good thing? I don't really know what to say, fingers crossed the treatment goes well for him.

oh cally :hug: that is alot to take in xx will be thinking of you and your mum and dad :hug:

AFM: DH just arrived with Leila today for the funeral tomorrow. gosh it is soooo good to see them. i have missed them so much and i swear that Leila has grown lol!
DH also gave me an update on my friend and baby. things aren't looking terribly good, they are both in ICU (Mum and bub). DH spoke to our friend who was the attending midwife (who, due to the crazy fast birth arrived about 10 minutes after baby was born) and she is not doing very well emotionally. I guess that it must of been quite a shock and so difficult as we are all good and close friends. i'm just praying like mad that they are going to be ok and man oh man i cannot wait to give them a hug. what a week huh? what's going on in the universe??

cally- i am so sorry to hear about your dad xoxox

cass- sorry about your friend's little baby boy. i hope you have some good news in your life soon xoxox

arte- i would have loved to have seen the girl version of lewis, would've made me cry! what was her name?

Thanks for all your lovely hugs and thoughts. What a nice bunch of ladies you are. :) Heading home on Monday. Flying on my own with the two girls, 3 planes, should be....... interesting to say the least! :lol: Ginger you can do something to help...... come over for coffee. ;)

Cally- Sorry to hear about your Dad. That is sad news. :(

Cass- Best of luck with the funeral, hope your friends bub is ok. What a terrible thing to happen to them all.

Arte- Wonderful news on the sleeping front, so good things are improving for you and that you DH has pulled his finger out.

Kate- 32 weeks?? Time has flown hey?

MD- The interview is a perfect time to disclose a little information about the past year. Surely they will understand. When is the interview? Did you say already?

Well not a lot to report really. Have friends here who are driving me a little crazy. They are sweet but drove me crazy after a few hours in Aus, so 2 weeks is more than enough! :lol: Geez i sound like a *****! I'm not really! I'm just sick of waiting on them and entertaining them all the time. They are not at all self sufficient and are very young. Anyhoo.... it is nice to have some company, i shouldn't whinge! :p

Cass, thinking of you today, since I know it's Oma's funeral. So glad you have your DH and L there to sustain you through a difficult day. I'm still saying prayers for your friend and her baby :hug:

Cally - I'm so sorry to hear your dad's news - such a shock and I suspect worse than you were all thinking it would be. :hug: It's good that the spread is minimal, they do wonderful things with hormone treatments (weirdly some of the same ones they use in breast cancer) and get really good results, plus new treatments are being trialled all the time. Please know I'm thinking of you and all your family as you come to grips with his diagnosis and what it all means. :hug:

ETA - JM interview is on Monday, first day of four straight days of interviews, thought I'd get in while the panel is fresh and before their eyes start glazing over LOL. I will think of you on the planes that day, you are such an awesome capable woman, and I'm sure you will get the help you need along the way as everyone else will recognise your awesome capableness in travelling alone. :).

Arte - I agree with everything JM said - good to hear you've had improvement and most especially Dh's realisation that the buck has to stop with him sometimes too. :clap: Hoping you get loads of improvement and lots more SLEEP!!!

Oops better go, am supposed to be wrapping presents not indulging in my BB addiction.!!

cass- thinking of you today. can i ask what your oma's name is, if that is not too personal?

md- so what are you gonna wear to the interview?????

jm- name the day and i am there!!!! just tell me when it suits you and i'll make it happen. i can't wait to see the girls

Hi All
Been thinking of Cass and JM. Hope al went ok yest Cass - are you spending some more time up there with your family? How is your OPa?
JM - best of luck on the flights - that's full on! I am sure you will handle it all really well but will be glad when you touch down in Melbs.
Cally - so sorry you had such news re your dad. I am guessing you are all in shock about it all. I wonder if he got to ask all the q's he wanted to re treatment etc. Sounds like he is strong and you have a supportivbe family so hope you are doing ok. i guess the sooner the treatment starts the sooner he and you all are through it.
Hope you managed to relax and get some you time on your day off.
G - cluck cluck cluck.... I think it is a good plan to focus on you for a bit. I am in the other camp - i plan on having more but at this pt cant imagine it. i guess i am still dealing with such bad sleep issues etc, i just cant see how i could do it again. we will be waiting a bit longer - a few mopre yrs i think b4 ttc3.
MD - i am sure you will do well on mon. be upfront on all that has beenb happening... tell us what the outfit is.
i better go, but will try to be back later
xxx

hi girls,

THANK YOU all so much for all the hugs and prayers and well wishes for my Oma and myself. i didnt have the energy to come on here last night but the last few days have been made that little easier reading your posts (and i truly mean that). in the end the funeral went well. but man, 45 minutes to celebrate an entire persons life is just so short. TBH i found the chances of being able to see her before the funeral much more healing iykwim? it had never really occured to me that that could be so, but if felt good to just sit in the room with her and take the time to say goodbye. funerals imo are a bit like weddings...soo many special people and memories and just too little time...

JM: 3 planes huh?! sucker for punishment man lol! nah, the build-up will be worse than the reality i am sure. but i totally think a cuppa with G is in order for recovery lol!

MP: thanks for asking about Opa. he is holding up okish. it must be such a massive life change for him, after 50 years with someone. he does look a little lost and not too sure where to go. thankfully all us kids have told him he can come to any of us anytime for however long. but i know that he is alot like me and will need to put his roots somewhere and settle into 'new normal'.

G: my Oma's name is quite a mouthful lol! her name is Geertruida Fredrika Shamier (nee Wennekes). all the friends always shortened it to Truus (pron. Truce).

MD: How is the countdown to the interview going? i reckon you should buy some haighs choccy for specials after the interview and when you have moments of feeling overwhelmed during it, just think back to the smooth chocolately velvety goodness waiting for you at home!

i'll be back in the BB action over the coming days, it is good to be home, but am sad that i live so far away from my Opa. so it's all very conflicted.
my friend's baby is not good. i spoke to my friend today and man, they have a very tough, long road ahead. i will over the next day or two be posting somewhere in the NICU or children with special needs section as i really want to be there for them, not just for now and the crazy phase but for always. this will be a life journey for this family and i want to be able to be with them and understand what they are going through IYKWIM. so hopefully someone here on BB can give some insight and tips etc.

on a more positive note we are heading off to the winter solstice celebrations at the coll. childrens farm tonight! it's gunna be FREEZING lol! but am really looking forward to it. need to get out and have leila get out and have a good run around. although it will be mayhem so will need to dress her in some sort of glowing outfit so i dont lose her LOL!

Clare - was thinking of you yesterday, glad it went well and you got your chance to say good bye.

JM - good luck with that plane trip!! Enjoy your catch up with Ginger.

AFM - still taking everything in here. There are a lot of questions we just don't have answers for at the moment which makes it all feel a bit weird. Mum and Dad popped in this afternoon for a quick visit on their way to tell some very old friends so it was good to see them and give them a big hug. At the moment there is no talk of surgery, just hormone treatment and they reasses it in 3 months time.

On the other hand I had a lovely birthday yesterday. Pampered myself with a facial and had a lovely long walk and made a super scrummy dinner.

MD - super good wishes for the interview on Monday.

cass- wow that is a mouthful! my mum's name is Gertrude so kinda similar? i was just asking cos i thought maybe your bubba could have some sort of name connection. L is sort of derived from my mum as her middle name was Luise.

jm- i wanted to ask if i could come and see you but didn't want to impose on your time here because i know you will have a million people you need to catch up with in such a short time. i'm stoked you want to see me though :)

mp- i still really want to catch up with you and meet N and J. i'm hoping we can make it happen sometime in July :)

G for sure we will arrange that meet up - I am def keen... just getting over my throat/chest infection so should be good to arrange something soon.
Cass - we were also going to the festival - but I forgot!!! had dinner at my aunts instead.
I hope your Opa finds a new normal - what an adjustment for him... i cant imagine. is a lot of your fam close to him (geographically?).
Cally - must have been good to see your parents. didnt realise it was your bday soory - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! sounds like a lovely day (what did you cook?)
CAss - is your friend ok physically (did you say she wa sin ICU too)? YOu will be a lovely support to her and the family I am sure. I hope the bub is OK.

Cass, I know what you mean. I remember when my Nan died and E was only 12 weeks old it was just an overwhelming sadness at the time because of everything that she was going to miss out on sharing but in time it got easier :hug: I wont lie and say it was always easy, because it wasn't when I had another baby and I couldn't tell her about it and she wouldn't know what I had and know what they were like but then I tell myself that L and E were so lucky to have her in their life even if it was only for a short time because there aren't many kids that ever get to meet their great grandparents and I make sure that I talk about her often to them and show them photos.

Just got news today that my ex-foster sister had a stillborn baby. She lived with us for two years from when I was 12-14 and she was 14-16. I see her around occasionally and hear updates because she is related (mum's cousin). We aren't close by any means, but it is still a bit of a shock when it happens to someone you know. I guess methamphetamine and pregnancy doesn't go so well together, but so sad for the poor baby. And for her too.

arte: i am sorry to hear about your foster sister's baby. it does really drive it home how lucky we are to have and to hold our little monkies.

MD: thinking of you today and have everything crossed that you go well and blow their socks off :crossfingers:

Thanks everyone, interview is done now so I guess it's time for me to go to the Haighs shop, Cass (great idea BTW LOL). They were absolutely lovely, the questions were all fairly simple, I got lots of smiles and nods, but whether I impressed them with my brilliant intellect and sparkling personality is another question altogether. It *is* day 1 out of 4 days of interviews so they were all fresh and happy to be sitting there listening to me crap on...was I specific enough? NFI. I fell for their accidentally-expose-your-weakness question hook line and sinker but am happy to report that even without realising it I used it to segue to a strength so ok there I think. And at the end of the day my EYEBROWs looked fantastic (now I'm an eyebrow waxing convert, thanks girls you have changed my life!) so if they don't hire me then they're a bunch of stupidos. :p

Thinking of JM winging her way through the skies today with the girls. xxx

Arte, I'm so sorry to hear about your foster sister's loss. I can only imagine the pain she has had in her life, and now this. :hug:

Ladies I know a lot of you are having tough times right now, please know I think of you often, there is always support and love coming to you from our little thread family. And I think it's time we all had some happy stuff coming to us...so I'm sending it out to the universe for you all! xxx

wahoo MD! sounds like a good interview to me! there are so many chances to crash and burn, and i reckon that as long as that didnt happen then you did well! so congrats! and seriously, how can you not hire a person with beautiful eyebrows lol?!

mmmmm haighs.....had to indulge a *bit* today and went to koko black and had the most DELECTABLE hazelnut infused hot chocolate...mmmmm drooling in my reminiscense lol!

oh oh oh! bubbity boo has decided to do some tricks right now! i am sitting here with my top up (good look i know!) and i am having her butt and legs and knees poking out lol! she is totally enticing me to a game of pokes lol! she loves it lol! if i stop she gets really cranky and wriggles and squirms even harder lol! also i do believe that she is into decadence as i gave her a 'massage' before and she totally was leaning into it and doing heaps of slow movements into my hands lol! 'adda girl!

Cass that's gorgeous! You'll have another little decadence-loving koko-black hot-chocolate sipping darling on your hands!

koko-black hot chocolate........ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

MD- Without a doubt you charmed them. ;) So what is your weakness hey? :p Haigs?

Ginge- i think you underestimate how much we love you guys! As if we wouldn't see you. I'm only seeing 5 friends, otherwise it's too hectic.

Well i made it, alive. A long day but the girls were great all things considered. Sat next to a terribly important woman (just ask her) She rolled her eyes if anything touched her or the girls made a sound. She was a total PITA. But wanting to kill her took my mind of the girls. :lol:

md- well done on interview, but more importantly, i'm thrilled to hear about your brows LOL ;)

arte- big hugs

cass- sounds like you've got another live wire!

jm- can't wait to see you all tomorrow :)

MD, I'm so happy for you that the interview went well. It must have been a huge confidence boost for you :hug: I had to LOL at the sensational eyebrows - I read the other week that bushy is in :rofl: we can't win either way can we?

JM that would have been so annoying sitting next to someone like that. Would have been hilarious if they spilt something on her LOL!

Cass, I think you might have another high spirited girl in there :)

Arte, that is terribly sad about your foster sister.

Awesome news from me - I finally got my last 4 assignment marks back they were all HIGH DISTINCTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so pleased with myself. I was really worried about one of them because it was a really involved assignment that took a lot of work to complete.

wow trill that is fantastic news - you go girl! what a brainiac you are - you will be a fab teacher
md - woo hoo on the int (and the eyebrows!) - when do you think they will get back to you? when would you be back at work if it all happens?
JM and G - have a great time today!
Cass - sooo cute about bubba - wow cxant believe you are now so far along. how is your friend and her bub?
Arte - v sad about your foster sister. made me feel v grateful for my boys
Cally - how are you doing
Anyone heard from Noni?

AFM all is well. We had a bad week last week - J and I were bnoth really sick. doing better now. I have not fed J onight the last 3 nights and it is going well. still needing lots of settles but not getting too upset. i forgot when i introduced certain foods with N so we tried grapes and sultanas yest - LOVED them both! i cant blieve he will be 1 in 2 weeks time. whwere has the year gone?
any ideas for a bday pres for him? i want something he can enjoy that N wont take over!!

i sware i just posted and dont know where it went??
things are hectic here william is getting grommets put in on thursday provided his cold is better..
sorry i dont come on much now, im working and trying to juggle life and kids and work and sometimes its all a bit much..
argghh my other post was much longer sorry i dont have time to re write it atm hopefully it turns up?? idk haha
xoxoxox to all

Ni Noni, welcome back. Hope Will's surgery goes OK, has he been having lots of ear troubles?

MP - glad you're all feeling better. Wow, 1 already! Where has the time gone??

MD - well done on the interview, I'm sure they took particular notice of the eyebrows - you will be in their notes as 'impeccable eyebrow lady'!!

Trill - awesome results!! Does not get much better than that! Do you have end of semester exams or was it all assignment based?

Cass - Mmmm, koko black, DH and I will be heading that way in the holidays....

JM & Ginger - enjoy your catchup!! Can you take some photos of those 4 lovely kiddies all together???

hi girls!

Sherie: oh WOW!!! CONGRATS!! that is an amazing achievement! imagine what your GPA must be!! (do they have grade point averages down here???).

Noni: i have lost a few posts by accidently hitting 'go advanced' button instead of the post button :wall:
i have seen on FB that you guys have been having pretty mega illness stuff with poor W. hopefully the grommets can go in and he'll be a happy baby again :hug:

MP: gosh, already going onto his first birthday!! wow, that means that our big babies are almost 3 :o oh my gosh!

MD: i *think* the way i can best describe what this new kidlet is shaping up to be is a decadent live-wire....egad....she might be an artist. oh dear. LOL!

AFM: well melbourne turned up the weather today and leila and i decided to break in the new P&T pram...all i can say is that it aint the bugaboo LOL! and it does take up a heck of alot of room in the boot (surprisingly more than the bug despite that it's in one piece...strange). BUT it will carry two kids and am happy with that.

the deal with william is he cant hear us if were standing behind him anymore.. he has lots of ear infections and he doesnt pull himself up to stand because his balance is funny too.. poor little man gets sick all the time too which they say is probably related because his immune system is always down with the ear infections..
we are going private with no cover so its going to be pricey but the wait would have been around 12mths and i really dont feel we can wait in such a situation.. we have been critisised for it coz we will have to borrow money but really he is in such an important time for speech development and he has already stopped saying the words he was i just dont feel we can wait.. hes also in pain with the infections too..
i just really hope it all goes well and we can obtain some sort of normality in the household because weve had illness troubles with him since a very young age =(

oh you poor thing Noni. Good on you - sounds like the right decision for W and the whole family.
I am sure it will go well - the few ppl I know who have had to go down the grommet path have had speedy recoveries and great results with speech etc. Poor little man.

ps i am right there with you with struggling to fit everything in with work and the kids. where are you working now?

noni if it's any consolation i would of done the same thing borrowing money for my kid's surgery :hug: i totally agree that you did the right thing.

I *think* it was leanne that had one of the boys with grommets? and didnt isadora get them for maddie???

Noni, great to see you here hon. I agree, I think you're absolutely doing the right thing, I would've begged borrowed (prolly not stolen) to get it done too, a year is such a long time when it comes to speech development. I hope it all goes well. I had exactly the same probs as a baby, even delayed walking etc, and I turned out alright after the grommets went in.

Congrats Trill :cheer: - though I'm pretty sure no one in teh thread (except you) is surprised! You take such care and attention with everything and we all know what a clever cookie you are.

MP - I still have problems with DD1 taking over Missy E's toys LOL. The little kids toys are always a big kid magnet, yesterday I had a thirteen year old boy doing stunt tricks to a purple stuffed dragon in a fisher-price little people bus LOL.

Well today's exciting news is I scored a copy of the Wiggles Singstar at ToysRUs for only $20! BARGAIN it only came out about a month ago. *sings* Get ready to wiggle... Guess what we'll be doing this Saturday night before we break out the Monopoly Deal and Cluedo :lol:

LOL MD that will be a HUGE night...

ok girls - what's gravy beef? i wanted to make a slow cooker roast tom and DH came home with gravy beef (he did ask at the butcher what to use)... its also in a gfew bog chunks not one piece so i dont think i can rpoast it. thinking of using the same stuff i was goinbg to (french onion soup, wostershire sauce, garlic, veg) and doing a casserole? tips???

It's chuck steak MP. Dice it up into 2-3cm chunks and slow cook it - it's good for nothing else bar casseroles, but very very tasty.

Noni, bugger what everyone has been saying, they aren't the ones seeing their baby go slowly deaf and having delayed development :hug: I can't believe they think borrowing money for it is a bad idea? It is a bad idea to leave it to the mercy of the public hospital waiting lists if you ask me.

LOL MD at the stunt action. my big kids do that with their things all the time. Well done on the bargain too! Although I reckon you are a braver woman than I ;)

Thanks for all your congrats. It was a big worry for me to know whether I could handle study, especially considering I was never really near the top end while at school. I guess the old noggin is like a fine wine and gets better with age :rofl: seriously though, the marks were a huge boost for me and validation that I am doing the right thing. Cass, final grades will be finalised by Friday I think. I'm hoping that my average grade is a distinction, but it could only be a credit because of two of my marks being lower. We only had one online exam - the rest were essays etc.

MD, I just saw your post in the tummy tuck thread and I didn't want to hijack it LOL. Yes, I am taking the plunge and getting a DH-approved tummy tuck some time next year. I have to loose the weight first though :rofl: but that is also off to a good start. I saw my GP and had a full range of blood tests done - thyroid function, hormones the works which were all fine (except for cholesterol being 6, when it should be 5.4 which is no biggie) and I'm taking xenical as well which is great because it keeps you honest with what you are eating otherwise you get some rather unpleasant side effects. I can't weigh myself till I go back to the Dr in 5 wks, but I have already lost 5cm off my waistline and I have only been taking it for 8 days. I will go private for it - there is a surgeon that works out of Orange, which is only 3hrs away instead of going to Sydney which is 5hrs. It's only in the very early stages of planning though, just having a look around at different surgeons and loads and loads of before and after pics. It seems a pretty routine thing for them to do now, so they have a lot of experience with it. I do admit though that I am still struggling with having it done because got through 4 pg's and births with an intact abdomen, which I'm very proud of and here I am having surgery done on it that will leave a larger scar than a c/s would ITMS? I am really excited about having a flat stomach and no overhang, but at the same time I'm conflicted.

Trill, WTG on the grades!

MP, as Trill said, it is just a low quality cheap cut of meat - not worth buying the good stuff if you are slow cooking because the cheap cuts come out really well in the slow cooker. OMG at J being nearly 1!

MD, glad you and your eyebrows impressed at the interview. Four days of interviews must mean a lot of candidates? I haaaate job interviews. I once did an absolutely horrendous one, so so bad, obviously I didn't get the job. Then I started at another place and within a couple of months the company I had the terrible interview with bought them out and they had to take me lol. Very uncomfortable though. And then to make myself look a bit worse I realised I was pregnant about a week after I started there lmao.

Ginger, the girl Lewis was called Suzy. Hope you and JM had a fun meet up. I second Cally, a pic with all four would be awesome.

Clare, your belly bub sounds like she has personality plus! I suspect she is taking after her Italian side and is going to be a massive drama queen - maybe she should take up soccer????

W is sick with his first ever coughing bug (though he flat out denies it is a bug - it is just the coughs!). Hopefully it doesn't spread to the rest of us. TMI but my bladder control isn't up to extended bouts of coughing lol

Arte, 24 candidates, 3-5 positions. Argh I don't want to think about that! LOL at your terrible interview, I had a shocker while I was on mat leave, didn't help that it was a phone interview either.

Trill good on you for getting organised and getting in and doing some research. You're not committed until you pay the surgeon and climb onto the operating table LOL. I'll admit I'm more open to plastic surgery generally and tummy tucks specifically since it was one of the options for a new boob last year (one of the recon types uses a flap taken from your tum, so you get a complimentary, if somewhat radical, tummy tuck at the same time). I'd love to hear more about it as it happens, if you're happy to share.

hi everyone

trill- well done on your fantastic marks, you must be so happy. do you have to do teaching rounds soon?

md- my fingers are crossed for you

i am catching up with jm tomorrow so i'll make sure i take my camera. i am the world's worst photographer though so i'll get her to take the photos LOL

Yeah, I have mixed feelings about cosmetic surgery - I don't like it when someone takes something that is perfectly fine and then goes and alters it, but I can totally understand the emotions behind it. Pregnancy was not kind to my stomach and I have stretchies all over the lower half, up to just past my belly button so I guess it's already scarred in a way. And that's not including the delightful overhang I got after Alister because he was so big and I carried him quite low. I have always had a pot-belly - one of the bonuses of the curvy figure I have :rolleyes: but I was always able to hide it kwim? But now it's terrible. Thankfully I think I will only need the half tummy tuck, where they only do from the navel down and not the whole lot, which means a quicker recovery time and they wont have to reposition the navel at all so there will be less scarring.

trill- feel good about it hun :)you're doing it to fix a problem, not because you want to look like miranda kerr. i would be excited if it was me :)

thanx so much for the support ladies.. its so hard being told ur not doing the right thing when it comes to something like surgery i mean i know its minor but ofc its still worrying.. i know its hindering him, he tries to pull himself up but he just doesnt have the ballance, his speech is going backwards and like i said he cant hear us from behind him.. i feel really sad for him.. but then part of me does worry about the money we are borrowing from our very generous family as we are in a lot of debt already... i hate being questioned on it why cant people see hes the most important thing not the money?? argghh anyway...
trill- congrats on the marks woohoo!! and i agree with ginger, feel good about the tummy tuck.
md - good luck with the interview results.. love that ur converted to eyebrow waxing! nothing like a good eyebrow wax to make you feel good about yourself!!
arghh gotta go winging snot monster at my feet.. will try and come on later

Noni - sounds to me like you are definitely doing the right thing. Having to wait a year would be terrible for little W and would take him so long to recover from. Are you back doing childcare work or something else now?

Trill - good luck with the tummy tuck, sounds good to me!