which twinnies were totally freaked out by their Halloween experience and are currently bunked down together, for safety’s sake?
Posted on November 1st, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Daily life, Immy, Maddy | 11 Comments »
which twinnies were totally freaked out by their Halloween experience and are currently bunked down together, for safety’s sake?
Posted on November 1st, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Daily life, Immy, Maddy | 11 Comments »
So, in a fit of madness I agreed to letting the big girls have a sleepover.
I agreed way back in June but Ivy was in hospital.
Then I agreed over the last school holidays but Ivy was sick and four out of the seven kids came out in this weird rashy thing, so the sleepover was put on hold again.
The year is wearing on though and a deal is a deal.
So I agreed to Halloween night.
With a spooky theme.
The spookiest thing is that there will be twenty something tween and pre teens there.
It is to scary.
I’ll be lucky to survive.
We don’t usually celebrate Halloween in the boonies. Aside from the occasional teenager who just wants to peg eggs, no matter how much you treat them, so this is quite a new thing for me to be planning.
The girls are all dressing up and we are going to play games, eat and watch a scary movie. ( I offered to come in and teach them how to dance, you know, Madonna Mummy style, with a ’stir the pot’ and a bit of the old ‘look at your watch’ moves thrown in but they were all..um…no, Mum, that’s okay. So, I guess we’ll make do with the other things).
Yeah, twenty something squealing girls, hyped up on sugar and pizza, watching a freaky film.
There will be little sleep at this sleepover, me thinks.
You think I’m crazy, right?
Right?
Well, there is method in my madness.
The deal (as mentioned above) is that the girls can have this big party, this spooky sleepover, in exchange for their first born child four years of peace.
Yep, no parties until the big twins turn 16.
What?
I don’t do teenagers well.
I just don’t understand them with all of their secret hand shakes and weird made up words and whatever it is that they do these days. “Macking on with their boy in the quad” and what not. “Hangin’ with their girls”.
“WhatEVA!” (The girls just told me it’s ‘Wot Eva’) *sigh* See what wot I mean?
So, I have scored some relief from the packs that they tend to travel in and by the time they are 16, maybe they will have settled into their skins and be sensible. Either that or I will have become deaf and blind so I don’t have to bare witness to any of it.
I know, I sound like a cow of a mother but hello, people, I was the bookhead, library geek in highschool. I just don’t get this whole popularity gig.
Trust me, it will be sanity saving for all of us.
This will probably be my last entry before the scary party. If I don’t make it out alive, I’ll see you all on the other side.
BOO…
hoo hoo.
We practiced make up last night. What do you think?
Posted on October 30th, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Daily life, Immy, Lily, Maddy, children, motherhood | 25 Comments »
We came.
We saw.
We kicked that scan’s bottom.
One little girl stayed very very still for over ten minutes and along with being labelled the best little girl ever to grace the bed of the bone density scanner, scored for herself a princess outfit.
I love that kid!
Posted on October 29th, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Health, illness, Ivy - girl, happiness | 28 Comments »
Ivy is having a bone density test tomorrow. I’m not even sure what that is but she needs one.
Apparently.
At least, according to the scribbled note, that was attached to the referral by my (almost) holidaying paed.
It was the first time ever he has had ‘doctor writing’. Man, he really needs that break.
Heh heh.
Anyone would think he is trying to keep us busy over the next fortnight, judging by all the tests and consultant specialists he has requested.
Starting with the bone density scan.
The thing is, Ivy has to stay extremely still for ten minutes.
Can anyone tell me how I am going to do that?
Miss fidget pants can’t.
I’m thinking that I might have to resort to something medicinal to make her a little sleepy…
Do you think that would be classed as a form of child abuse?
Knocking your kid out for the sake of science?
Yeah, me too.
*sigh*
Perhaps a small bribe is the answer.
Posted on October 28th, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Health, illness, I hate prednisone club, doctor related posts | 21 Comments »
Sundays seem to come around so quickly, don’t you think?
I really don’t know where the time went.
I don’t have alot of photos this week (shock! horror!). If you mosey on over to Sarcastic Mom’s place, you can see more amazing photos but here are my favourites…
Making GF scones. The making was fun. She didn’t eat them though, they were like rocks.
Noah scone maker extraordinaire.
I took some photos for a friend. It was SO hard, trying to capture the spirit of her children. I spun around and found my beautiful Lily with her equally beautiful smile and relaxed.
When womanhood and motherhood collide.
Washing up after lunch (note the peanut butter beard)
Little washer upperer.
Lime blossom
She hates this one but I love it.
Shelved (but not for long, never for long).
Little smile.
Beary soft.
This is my favourite because it has a story attached.
Since the last IVIG, where the doctor stuck her three times before a successful canulation, she has had to have a ‘magic’ bandaid on her hand. “It makes the hurts go away”.
Posted on October 26th, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Weekly Winners | 45 Comments »
So, he called late on Friday evening
and we have a plan.
I like plans.
Most of which is watch and wait.
Her heart; more ecg testing.
Her lungs; the pulmonary hypertension, he feels, is due to the recurrent infection, the pneumonias and it will either get worse or it will resolve. So he will monitor that and if it worsens then we will look at options.
The pre med; will happen, so when she next has her Intragam, on November 10, I will have no bad night to report (touch wood)
and the kindy will get their management plan.
All is good.
The coughing up of blood; he feels that it is in the upper respiratory tract and we should watch her and wait. If it keeps happening I will take her to A&E.If she needs admission then he will test her lungs but for now, I will keep an eye on her at home.
This morning she is much the same, so all I can do is take his suggestion and observe.
Posted on October 25th, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Health, illness, IVIG, Ivy - girl, doctor related posts | 23 Comments »
This waiting for the doctor to call back is getting to me.
Last week he was on call for two hospitals and was run off his feet.
Exhausted and unable to get back to us.
So it was this week that I was hoping to talk to him about the girl and what the deal is with her heart and her lungs.
This week that I wanted to tie him down to a commitment of pre medication for the next lot of IVIG because he won’t be here for that one, just like the last.
He is the specialist medical officer and he needs to order the meds.
Nobody else can or will.
He will be away for the first fortnight in November but it is during those weeks that Ivy and Noah have their pre school orientation and the kindy staff are already balking at Ivy’s situation and wanting medical plans from the paed. So, I was hoping that he would be able to help me out on those issues too…
and of course the girl is sick.
Her ear is discharging and she has a cough. She is pale and, you know, looks like she does just before she goes downhill and her heart rate is high and I am watching and waiting and hoping that it will resolve itself, without frantic dashes to the emergency department. (work IVIG, work!)
There are a couple of things I wanted to run by him like why she has coughed up blood over the last two days and if this is something to do with the medications or something entirely different.
Maybe her ears, her nose, her throat?
Maybe her lungs?
Maybe I should just stop thinking.
He hasn’t called though, the paed.
The fear and frustration is slowly creeping in.
I am fighting it.
I am.
It’s hard though.
When I was just starting down the track with the Ivy girl’s issues, a doctor (maybe our paed, I can’t remember now) told me I was being over protective because I had had a neonatal death. Back then I was angry but maybe that doctor was onto something. Maybe I do get uptight because I have watched my baby die and I don’t want anything to happen to any of my others.
*sigh*
It’s Friday now.
So I am guessing this week for answers is a bust.
Posted on October 24th, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Health, illness, IVIG, Ivy - girl, Uncategorized, coping, doctor related posts | 21 Comments »
It’s been there since he died, the box under the bed.
With all of his things inside.
Things that mean something and nothing.
It comes out rarely now and I thought that I had moved past the material possessions, the physicality of his abscence;
The ultrasound pictures.
The small soft toys, an outfit, a crocheted blanket.
His birth certificate and one pronouncing his death.
The little booties and the hat he had worn all those years ago.
Papers and readings and words to sad songs in remembrance of a small boy.
A lock of hair, some fading ink impressions of not so tiny hands and feet.
Cards and letters, sympathy and empathy all stuffed into the box under the bed.
I can hardly bare to look but I can memorise it’s contents, know every piece by heart.
I know it is there, the reminder box that I once had a firstborn son.
My second son discovered it today and pulled from it all of the past, marvelled at the small soft seal that, for a few days, belonged to his brother. Lay underneath the blanket and looked at all of the cards. Showed me the booties and tried to put on the beanie
and
my heart was torn.
My first instinct was to gather every last thing up, snatch them, almost, from his little hands.
Tell him, No!
Not those things, they are mine, they are my memory keepers, the last things that I have on this earth to bring me closer to William.
Even though I shove them under the bed amongst the dust bunnies and the piles of read books and the shoes that are ten years old and haven’t found their way to the bin.
They are still mine to covet, to hoard, to cry over when I need to.
Then I stopped because
they are his too.
They are all that he will ever know of his brother.
These tangible things.
These posessions.
So I packed away the important things, the birth and death certificate, the important papers, the hand and foot prints, the lock of hair and then I let him look amongst his brother’s toys and he and his sister sat on the blanket and had a picnic with the seal and the hippo. All the while, the second son wore the beanie and kept the booties, one on each of his big toes.
The little sister and the little brother talked about all of the things that one might talk about when you are just about to turn three and you are picnicing in your parents’ bedroom,
except, for a moment when they talked, in the softest of whispers, about the angel called William and how he closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was flying in the clouds
and for an instant I could see all of them playing together and felt closer to my first boy than I had in ages.
Posted on October 23rd, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Daily life, Loss of a baby, grief, toddlerhood | 32 Comments »
We were standing in the line at the material store.
Every kids favourite thing to do on the Sunday of a long weekend, don’t you know.
It is, isn’t it?
Surely,there is nothing more rewarding than trawling the rows upon rows of cottons and velvets?
Surely.
Each child has picked a coloured fabric so that I can make some superhero capes for our Christmas card shoot and the line is long with mostly women, of varying age.
The little ones are restless and the little boy, especially so. He is grumbling and carrying on in true male, ”I don’t want to be here shopping, for a start and in a place that has nary a Thomas the tank engine in sight” style.
His sister tells him if he continues to misbehave there will be no treat for him. (News to me, I had not planned on treating anybody with anything other than a cape and superhero goggles and a two hour photo session).
He leans in close to her and says…
…”You want a piece of me?”
The line women turn their heads sharply to lock their eyes on the person, this would be agitator and when they see he is a small, blonde, barrel of a child, they immediately shift their eyes to me.
I feel the blood rise in my cheeks and I look to the boy who has brought about my beetroot face.
Some women tut but most snigger and I ruffle his hair in good humour.
I am mortified until David leans over and whispers…
“At least he didn’t say, ‘your boobs are hawt‘”.
Posted on October 21st, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Daily life | 27 Comments »
I can’t believe I am going to give you all a sneek peak of our Chrismas card photos but I am. Mum, Amy, Jen, Mary, Tracey, Trish close your eyes.
I said close them!
No?
Okay, well then sit back and enjoy my Weekly Winners or you can see all the other entries over at Sarcastic Mom’s blog!
These are the shots that made the final cut but all of them turned out so well because the kids just had a ball.
It was so hard to pick.
My children are such super heroes! They can fly, you know.
Whoosh!!
Blonde and saving the world.
Every boy wishes he could fly.
She called herself Captain Cow (?)
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s The Blue Flash.
Mal was so excited when I sewed the capes! His super hero alias is Super Skull!
This is Captain Attitude. The only way he would participate in the super hero shoot was if his cape could be black. Yeah, pre teen, anyone?
Super Ivy was late on the scene (after a looooong sleep)
Posing beautiful.
We set up a step ladder and got the big kids to leap onto matresses. They had the best time!
Be afraid, be very afraid, all you villians and thieves out there (and any pink donuts that need eating).
Mid air madness.
Apparently all little girls wish they could fly too.
I’ll use my death stare to bring you to your knees.
Wonder twin powers… ACTIVATE! (Does anyone remember that cartoon?)
We hope you have a super sweet Christmas. Okay, a little corny but fun, lots of fun.
My super seven.
Posted on October 19th, 2008 by Tiff
Filed under: Weekly Winners | 54 Comments »