225 + 121 Weeks

It was an interesting week this week.  Local school Saint Mary's had their school fete, so we took the kids for the festivities.  While Jeff took Carmie around to get her face painted, go in a fire truck and on the jumping castle slide, I got stuck over at the 'white elephant' sale area with Arley who discovered a massive box of Thomas the Tank engine trains and tracks.  For an hour and a half.  He pulled them out and started playing with them, and then he screamed bloody murder at anyone who came too close, including all of the people trying to shop at the stall.  Some mothers looked at me with understanding, but others were shocked and one even looked at me and said, "Scary."  :(  In the end we had to buy the box of tracks and trains, as Arley had prevented anyone else from getting it.  But he is one happy little guy now, with a very intricate track system set up in his room that we have to climb over.  And speaking of happy, he seems to have turned over a new leaf this week.  He still has his tantrum moments, but for the most part, he has been a happy, easy-going little guy, and life is so much more pleasant now!  It's amazing how a two year old can emotionally control a family, but they can!

So, the big dilemma of the week was whether or not to enrol Carmie in school next year.  She is only 4 years and three months - she just makes the age cut off - so I had always had it in my head that she would start real school in 2017 (for the Americans reading, the school year starts here in January).  It is orientation week at the local schools, and I didn't give it a second thought until all of Carmie's teachers told me that she is ready for school.  They said if she stayed at the Montessori preschool for another year, she would be so advanced that she would be bored out of her mind going in to kindergarten.  Then I took her for her 4 year health check up, and the nurse looked at me like I was crazy because I was doubting sending her to school.  There is a Montessori school starting here in 2017, but the chances of us being able to afford it are slim to none, but that would be my ultimate goal for both of the kids.  Then they could just learn at their own level and never be held back.  Given the way we feel about Montessori, we have decided to keep her in it as long as possible, even if that means only another year of preschool.  If we mainstream school her after that, we will tackle school boredom as it arrives!  But her teachers even told me to ask if the school has a talented and gifted class in kindy that she could get in to this coming year.  Apparently Carmie is the star student.  I knew she was smart, but that was news to me :)

Lolo and Dida left this week for Thailand, for their annual month-long holiday.  And no Mum, I am not jealous, I don't love mango and I hate having a maid, swimming in the pool and relaxing all day long.  To say goodbye, we met up with them as well as the kids' cousins and Aunty Georgia and Uncle Mark, for a play at the park and a picnic.  The kids had a blast, as usual.  They are missing their grandparents terribly though, and ask about them every day.  On their first morning in Phuket, Carmie took my phone into her room and called Lolo.  It was 4am over there.  Sorry Lolo!

And the best thing about this past week is that my art studio got finished, and all tradesmen have finally left our property!  I can't tell you how nice it is to have our privacy back and to not have builders and sparkies roaming around!  And how amazing it is to have a place to work!  I have spent the last two days painting in the studio, and it is awesome.  Best thing to ever happen to me, besides my hubby and little munchkins!

At the fete

 Arley and his score.  That cross look on his face is his "Back Off or Else" face.

 Painting with a very smudgy butterfly face

 Happy camper

 At the park

 Carmie & her Lolo

 New art studio, complete with kids' climbing wall :)

224 + 120 Weeks

This week was much better than last week!!  On Saturday, we took Carmie up to Huskisson to go whale watching.  She was very impressed by the mother and cub humpback whales that we saw, as well as the seals, before she put her head down in my lap and fell asleep.  She missed out on seeing the penguin and the hammerhead shark, but we didn't tell her :)  All in all, she had a lovely morning out on the boat and then lunch with Mum and Dad.  Little Arley stayed at the farm with his grand parents.  When we took Carmie back to the farm, her cousins were there.  They were going to bring a dog down for Carmie (her big surprise), but it fell through, for now at least.  In the mean time, we are looking after my sister's dog, Abby, and it is really lovely to have a doggie friend for the kids.  Anyway, on Sunday I took the kids back to the farm for some more cousin fun, and it was really nice, because Carmie really hit it off with her cousin Olive.  They became fast friends.

Arley is walking around like there was never anything wrong with his leg, and he finally got over his cold this week.  It hasn't put him in a better mood though!  He is one grumpy little guy.  He wakes up grumpy and screams because he doesn't want his nappy changed, then he screams because he doesn't want his clothes on, then he hits because I make him get his nappy changed and clothes on, and the day goes on in a similar fashion until bed time, when he screams because he doesn't want to go to bed, and then he throws his water bottle and dummies on the floor, and then he screams because they are on the floor and he can't reach them...you get the picture.  Fun times.  But at least he is walking!

Carmie had a major meltdown moment last night too, and I lost the plot.  She is constantly doing this awful mewling fake cry, and pretending to be sick or injured, and there is nothing you can do to snap her out of it.  It drives Jeff and I crazy.  This morning I told her the story of the boy who cried wolf.  She was a little better today, with only a sore ankle, two (very tiny) spots on her shin, an injured finger, and a sore arm.  Enough already!!

Would anyone like to babysit?

Carmie & Olive

Carmie and her little friends at school

223 + 119 Weeks

I know that I often complain about weeks from hell, but this past week really was a week from hell.  Our weekend started out nicely, with a trip to the pirate ship park for a picnic on Saturday.  It was a nice time, until Carmie decided that she hurt her foot and couldn't walk, and so we all had to go home.  Total drama queen.  On Saturday afternoon I noticed that Arley was limping. I saw it again very obviously that night, and pointed it out to Jeff.  On Sunday morning, he got up and was limping again, and pointed to the top of his right foot and said, "It hurts".  So I took him up to Milton Hospital at 8 in the morning.  The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with his foot, his ankle, leg or hip, so she called the paediatrician at Shoalhaven Hospital in Nowra, and he said to bring Arley up there, with an overnight bag.  So, up we went, but the doctors up there also couldn't find anything wrong with his leg.  They hooked Arley up to an IV and started giving him intravenous antibiotics in case it was a virus, or septic arthritis.  Jeff had to leave to go up to Sydney for a course that he was doing, so Arley and I stayed on at the hospital.  They did an ultrasound but found no fluid in his hips.  They did an X-ray of his hips but it came up all clear.  Then they did X-rays of his leg and foot, and they found something on his leg, but this turned out to be a vascular marking, which is not anything to worry about.  What was worrying, was that when they got Arley to walk on Monday, he had also lost his balance.  He had a limp and he was lurching all over the place.  It was very frightening to see.  On Tuesday morning when the doctors did their rounds, they told me that they had to rule out a brain tumour (!!), so they gave Arley an oral sedative at 1pm, and scheduled him for a CT scan at 1:30.  They wheeled him to the Imaging rooms (he was very excited, he loved his 'rides in the bed', as it was the only time he left his room), but he didn't fall asleep, so he got taken back to the ward.  Then half an hour later, he did fall asleep, so they wheeled him back, but when they lay him on the table for the CT scan, he woke up and freaked out.  So, the techs told me that they wouldn't get a scan that day, as the doctors wouldn't give him any more sedative that late in the day.  They took him back to his room, and he was very distressed.  He had hardly eaten all day, so he was really pissed of, and they wouldn't give him any food because of the sedative.  Anyway, an hour later, the doctor came in and told me that the main doctor did in fact want a CT scan that day, as Arley seemed to be deteriorating. When they told me that, I was done for.  It was awful.  So, they gave him an extra large dose of the oral sedative, and that was when we discovered that Arley was completely resistant to that medicine, and instead of sleeping, he went manic, and by manic, I mean completely batshit crazy.  For the next several hours, he screamed and thrashed and hit and tried to pull his IV out, and then he would calm down for a couple of minutes, before he would start up again.  He was standing up on the bed and throwing himself down, and flailing and kicking, all the while hooked up to a drip that he was getting tangled in.  God, it was so awful.  Finally close to 8 o'clock at night, they got him down off the bed and unattached the drip so he could calm down.  I noticed that his limp was gone, but he was really wobbly on his feet.  At 8:30 I put him back into bed, and after another 20 minutes of mania, he lay down to sleep.  He was booked in the very next morning for a general anaesthetic, so he could get the CT scan.  But when the doctors did their rounds, they got him down to walk again, and he was fine!!  Just a little bit cautious.  So, they released him!  The whole time they were calling him the mystery boy, as they never got a diagnosis.  Some of the nurses liked him, but mostly they stayed away, as every time a nurse came near him, he would scream at the top of his lungs and hit them.  He was not happy being confined to a bed for almost 4 days, as he felt fine.  It was a trial trying to entertain him, and I have to say, it was definitely a lesson in patience for me, and I am a different person because of it.  Arley was such a beast, he even hit the glasses right off a nurse's face!  But given the circumstances, I can't blame him, and he also did have times of real sweetness.  Ugh, I am so glad it's over.  I had to sleep on a pull out chair in a ward with crying babies, and all the while I was so worried about Arley, I was almost sick.  Anyway, since then, Arley has had a check up with his doctors, and they still can't give me a diagnosis, but they want him to get more X-rays in January, as they have to rule out something called Perthes disease.  This is a childhood hip disorder that does not sound like very much fun at all, but I'm trying not to even go there, not until I have to!

Carmie is holding up well.  The whole time we were gone, she stayed at the farm at Lolo and Dida's house.  She got spoiled rotten, but was still affected by it all, so I think she was a real trooper.  I missed her terribly, and so did little Arley.  We have a surprise in store for her tomorrow, but more on that next week!

Here is a video of Arley at the park, the day after he got out of hospital :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_HlkgduTKk&feature=em-upload_owner

At the park, before he got sick

Before his IV

On the way to get his ultrasound

Getting grumpy

Finally back home!

Playing outside - yay!

222 + 118 Weeks

We had our Labour Day long weekend this week, and it came with the most amazing weather.  It was summer in springtime, a total heat wave.  We took the kids to the inlet at Dolphin Point on Saturday, and on Monday too, and we had a blast.  The kids were well behaved, no one was sick, the sun was shining, and it made for a great weekend.  It is amazing how great weather changes everything.  We live in such a beautiful place, it is just no fun to be locked indoors, and now we really can't wait for summer.

Arley is talking a lot now, although some of it is still unintelligible.  Sometimes I simply cannot understand what he is saying, and this causes him a lot of frustration.  He has started learning his pronouns, and has been asking questions with, "Can I...?" and he takes great care in emphasising when he says 'you' and 'I' and 'my'.  He doesn't like to be around his dad much lately though, and when Jeff goes near him, he screams, "No Daddy, no!"  Thankfully Jeffrey finds it amusing, but we will see how long that lasts.

Carmie is doing really well.  They told me again at her school today that she is very advanced.  What can I say, she takes after her mother ;)    Tonight she called me Babe, as in "Yeah, Babe!"  She is a goose.  She loves to draw, and she is getting very good at writing sentences.  She is also full of energy, and runs around the house like a mad hatter.  And she looks after Arley, which is really nice :)

My studio is about a week away from being finished.  I can't wait!!!

Lolo and Dida came over for a visit, which is good, as the kids miss them SO much when they don't see them.