Thursday, April 24, 2025

720, 721 + 616, 617 Weeks

It has been a big two weeks, but despite this, we are all remarkably chill.  Easter was this past weekend, but in Jeff's own words, he "singlehandedly ruined Easter".  On Saturday morning I bought hot cross buns from the bakery, and I picked up a loaf of traditional sourdough bread, which I never do.  That night we had pasta, and I had the brilliant idea of asking Jeff to make garlic bread for us with the sourdough.  Unbeknownst to me, he gave Carmie a slice.  To his credit, the sourdough loaf did look exactly like one of Carmie's gluten free loaves of bread.  But anyway, Carmie ate it for dinner, and we were none the wiser until around 8:30 pm when she started vomiting.  The poor thing.  She was violently vomiting for the next two hours, and then when it seemed like there was nothing left, I went to bed.  When I woke up the next morning (Easter morning!) I discovered that poor Carms had been awake all night, throwing up on and off, and she couldn't get out of bed.  We cancelled our morning tea with Lolo and Dida as well as our Easter egg hunt, and poor Carmie spent the next two days in bed.  She was physically sick until Monday morning, and then was only able to get some food and drink in by Tuesday morning.  Arley was surprisingly patient about us having to postpone the egg hunt until Carmie was able to participate.  So, Easter was a bust!  Carmie is almost fully better as of today, but she still isn't eating much.

We had a paediatrician appointment for both kids on Tuesday morning.  We had known it was coming, and knew we had to get blood tests done on the kids.  We have never successfully gotten Arley's blood drawn except for under gas at the hospital, but they have closed that unit now, so we were fully prepped to go into a regular clinic.  I put the numbing cream on both the kids, and myself as well, as I had opted to get my blood drawn with them in solidarity (and to demonstrate to Arley how it is done).  Clint met us down at the clinic, and I got my blood drawn first, then Carmie (it took about 10 minutes to get her calm), and then it was Arley's turn.  The drama!  Oh my goodness, it was awful.  It took 45 minutes to just get him into the chair (all the while there were people waiting and listening in the next room!).  There were many tears, lots of shouting, lots of begging and bribing, and then finally Clint just picked him up and sat him in the chair with me.  I wrapped one leg over his legs, arm around his shoulders, hand shielding his eyes, then Clint had to pin him at the shoulder and at the wrist while two nurses took his bloods.  It was not fun!!  My heart broke for him.  He was terrified, poor bugger.  Afterwards Clint and I took the kids to McDonalds - it was one of the bribes I had made to get Arley into the chair.  Another one was that the kids could have unlimited screens until after Easter.  And then of course, Easter was postponed because of Carmie getting glutened...and now we have a three day long weekend ahead of us, so it looks like we will get back on track on Monday!

Other than those two big events, things have been fairly smooth sailing, I think mostly because of the unlimited screen time. LOL. I've been doing a little art work, getting some exercise in, and started a short painting course.  Jeffrey is still doing well at work, with three new sign ups this week, and three trial lessons already scheduled for next week.  The cooler weather is here, which is quite a nice change, and I've been able to get the kids going for a short walk with me in the mornings (separately - I have to do two walks!).  We had to cancel a few appointments over Easter, but the kids still saw Clint on Wednesday morning, for a bit of fishing off Chambers Island.  We are hoping to have a chill long weekend and start back full throttle on Monday.  Fingers crossed!

After Arley's successful blood draw. The patience of that nurse was remarkable! LOL

The only two photos I got of our postponed Easter egg hunt.  They are terrible, I know!

Fishing with Clint.  Note Carmie's t-shirt.  Haha


Thursday, April 10, 2025

718, 719 + 614, 615 Weeks

Usually I don't have much to say, but it has been a busy few weeks!  Jeffrey's 54th birthday has been and gone.  His birthday was on a Monday and Jeff had to work, so we celebrated it on Sunday.  I made him his favourite chocolate brownies, and Mum and Geoff come over for cake and presents.  It was pretty chill, with no dramas, which is a success in my book.  Jeffrey and I spent the day hanging out together and I tried to spoil him rotten.  He says he had a good birthday - a day of fun with no drama.  Win!

This past Sunday Jeff and I flew to Sydney for a quick overnight trip to get his passport renewed.  It had expired, so we couldn't do it by mail, and Jeff missed the deadline to submit the paperwork for the regional travelling US consulate, which meant we had to go to Sydney.  We left early on Sunday morning and returned on Monday night, while Mum and Geoff looked after the kids.  It was such a short trip, but we did so much and had such a good time!  On Sunday we met my old high school friend Anna at the Opera Bar.  I hadn't seen her in about ten years (time flies!), and we had a blast.  Anna and Jeff get along really well too, and it was very easy to spend the afternoon with her.  We went from the Opera Bar at the Opera House, to travelling to Anna's place in Manly via the ferry.  We spent the afternoon at Anna's, then ferried back to the city and then over to North Sydney to our hotel.  Dinner out was lovely.  It was really good to be away having some alone time.  The next morning we went to the consulate to get his new passport (Success! We just have to wait a few weeks for it to arrive).  We then caught the train into the city, had morning tea at the QVB, walked to Darling Harbour where we had lunch, then made our way to Circular Quay.  We spent the afternoon travelling to Watson's Bay on the ferry, and we stopped there for some afternoon tea before ferrying back to the city and catching the train to the airport.  Busy busy!  I realise how much easier it is to get around when we don't have to plan for the kids!  LOL.

It is nice to be home knowing that we have taken care of Jeff's passport.  He is heading back home to the States in June.  I'm not looking forward to it, and so wish I could go too!

We have had a good couple of weeks.  I have made a new rule that the kids do not get to go on any screens until they have been up for three hours and done something productive.  At first this involved a lot of tears on Arley's part, and some very dramatic dialogue telling me I have ruined his life.  However, after a few days it has become our normal, and things aren't going too badly!  Clint has taken the kids out a couple of times.  Carmie has had physio and done very well at it.  We got a surprise this morning when Penny, the kids' behaviour specialist, didn't show up.  When I checked my email I found that I had been sent a message from her company saying she no longer worked for them and that all appointments, today and future, have been cancelled!  Carmie was a little upset, as she really likes Penny.  I am a little relieved as I am getting very tired of all of these therapy appointments.  I think we will take a break from behaviour therapy for a while - hopefully we won't need it at all in the future!  Carmie has also asked to stop doing speech therapy, and she has done so well that her therapist and I agree that she can stop, at least for the time being.  Happy days!

I had better run, as Jeff is on his way home from work and I need to get his dinner on.  He has had a good week too, with quite a few trial lessons lined up and a couple of sign-ups too. :)