Aussie Aussie Aussie...

Oi, Oi, Oi!!

SO, we just celebrated Australia Day here, and it was a SCORCHER!!! It was just over 40C (102 ish) all day, and our airconditioner is broken, with no chance for repair!!

We started early, driving down to where Paul lawn bowls, and had a cooked breakfast, which was lovely. Then Paul had some sports thing on, with pool, darts and bowls, so the kids and I took off to my mum and dads... They have a cold pool. Where else would we be!?!?

At the start of the day, Molly looked like this

She wouldnt stay still long enough to get a decent photo.. Very Australian dress?? Well, it is the colours of our flag.. white stars and all.
Truth be told, this is my favourite party dress of Molly's.
It is from America. A very sweet and good friend of ours bought it for Molly for 4th July last year when we were there!
I think she looks cute!
Jasper was also wearing the same colours... but a Patriots jersy.. (Amercan Football team).
So my Aussie/American kids were representing!!

After swimming and eating, and before more swimming, this is what the kids looked like...

After all was said and done, we went and got Paul, came home, went in the nice cool spa, and tried to not cook ourselves!!

All in all, it was a lovely day.

On a side note, I made whoopie pies the other day. They were a packet mix, and only new instores here.
I have not had one before, but Jasper and Paul have, when we have gone to America.
Molly and I had our first try with this home made batch.
They were not as sugary as I anticipated, and the kids LOVED them!

Molly licking the spoon... such a delicate ladylike young Miss we are raising!

Again, SO ladylike. Not at all like a savage.

We only gave Molly half of one. I think she would have eaten the WHOLE TRAY had we let her!!

Of course, the mouth gets opened wide and often when it's whoopie pie! If only he'd eat his dinner so enthusiastically!!

Ok, that's all folks.

Thanks for reading.

Brooke

It was just another day... in Paradise!

I think I mentioned in the last post that the kids and I were spending a few days in Yallingup, and that I WOULD remember the camera.
Good news is the time in Yallingup was wonderful! I also remembered my camera!!
Bad news is I forgot to get the memory card out of the computer to put back IN my camera! (lucky my mum is super, and I just used her camera!).
Here are some of our shots...

Yallingup is about 3 1/2 hours south of where we are in Perth. It is right near Margaret River - a really well known wine growing and beach paradise down on the southern coast of Western Australia.

The villas we were staying in were a stones throw from the beach. It was P.A.R.A.D.I.S.E!

Poor Paul had to stay home and earn the $$ (and water our veggies!), but it was still a nice break in the school holidays for the kids and my folks to spend some quality time together.

Here was the first day - we got there at 2pm, put the stuff in our villas, and walked down to the beach. It was pretty windy, so no swimming that day. Molly LOVED it! Both kids were soaked and sandy in no time!

 Here is Jasper tempting the waves to come get him... they obliged!

 First evening, sitting on the back verandah of mum and dads villa (the kids and I had the villa next door, so perfect!). LOVE that view!

 Poppie buried the kids in the sand!

 Ahhhh. The kids near the water, just checking it out.

 Relaxing lunch at a winery...

 My mommy and daddy at the winery!

 One evening, just before the kids went to bed, we went kangaroo spotting. We didn't have to go far...

 At the start of a big walk for the kids... we were all a bit sweaty and red at the end... nothing a dip in the ocean wouldn't fix!

 Jasper just chilling out.

 Molly loving on her poppie.

 The kids were both in bed, and the kangaroos came up right on the grass outside the villas!
Mine was the end villa in shot, and you can just see my dad on their back verandah. I walked around to get a closer shot! I scared them closer to us, then away they hopped.

 Some wine from one of my dad's favourite wine makers.

 Oh boy, never leave home with out it! *although I think southern mozzies are immune... I got eaten alive!!

Final night dinner... tomato salad...

 speccie yellow and green salad...

 perfect porterhouse and potatoes

All in all, a great trip away. The kids were (mostly) well behaved. I could lay in bed and hear the waves crashing on the shore. The birds were everywhere (and quite brave), much to Molly's delight.

It is a wonderful memory for me, and hopefully the kids too!!

Thanks for reading.

Brooke

I love my kids soo much, but sometimes.....

Well, we are deep into school summer vacation.
I love having the kids home, and not having to worry about what shoes Jasper needs to wear, and is there a clean shirt, and NO LUNCH BOX TO PACK!!!

It is 7 weeks long, these holidays, starting just before Christmas, and finishing when school goes back at the start of February.

Normally my kids look like this...

Handsome (and, yes, the coldsore has become part of the "normal" look for Jasper!)

Sweet and innocent princess...

But if you were to see my kids behaving lately, you would agree with the below photos that depict what they are REALLY like!

Molly loves putting this mask on and "roars" at everyone! She calls it "monster".

That is what they behave like sometimes... monsters!!!

But tomorrow - oh tomorrow - momma gets a holiday!!

We are heading down south for the rest of the week.

Yallingup.

AH!

Paul has to stay home to work - poor man! But the kids and I are headed down with my parents for 5 nights of nothingness!!!

Well, there will be eating, drinking, swimming and lots of napping!!

I will post some photos when we return, because I WILL remember the camera!!

Thanks for reading about my monsters!

Brooke

Bragging About My Baby

I know all parents love their kids, think they are special and the cutest, but I think mine are more so than any others! (HA!)

This post is about some of the recent things that Molly does that makes her super heart melting to me...

When I am holding her, and she wants me to REALLY pay attention to her, she puts her hands on my face and forces me to look at her! She stares with really big eyes, and tells me what is SOOO important!

If I am not where she is, and she either wants to show me something, or get me to get her something, she comes to me, says "hand" until I give her my hand, then says "pull" until I get up, or follow her!

You know that noise you make when you are squeezing someone tight? Well, she does that, and I love it!

When the camera is pointed in her direction, she stops, stares and says "cheese".
(even if she is crying she stops to pose!)

She is really good at counting... with some help, she goes 1 - 10. Just doing it herself, she gets a bit confused, but has basically got 1,2,3 then 6,8,9,10... she is only 20 months, so give her some credit!!

If she wants something that someone else has, she tells them "have it" (sounds like habbit). Or if she is giving me something, she tells me "have it".

She calls a frog a "shrog"

When the windows are down in the car, or there is a breeze, she smiles big and says "windy!"

If Jasper goes out with out her, or we go out without Jasper, she sobs and sobs "Jasper. Jasper. Jasper" Then continues to ask "where Jasper" until we get him back!

First thing in the morning, she says "iPad?" and knows to get it, she needs to say "iPad, please mummy" and give me a kiss. This normally works about once a week... When I hear her wake up, I hide the iPad, so she can't see it, so when she asks for it, I say it's all gone!

She calls my friend Carly "la-la", my mum (Grandy) "ga-ga" and my dad (poppie) "poppa".

When the phone rings, or I am on the phone she asks "ga-ga?" every time!!!

She is full of smiles, and sometimes cuddles. She very rarely cries, she is tough as nails and she idolises her brother.

Blood Test Day

The short story is... The results were good.

Now for the Brooke version.. Or the long story!!

I asked Jasper on the drive in if he was ok with everything, and he said "yeah, why?" totally oblivious of the fact that I had been awake since 4am predicting disastrous results and bottoming out platelet counts...
I don't know why I get stressed, but I always do.
I think it might be the fear of the unknown.. but knowing what could come at the same time.
FA parents talk about the ticking time bomb..
Waiting your turn in line for the inevitable.
Maybe that's why I get scared. I am wondering if we have moved up in the line, then getting scared that we have moved up, and who has already hit the head of the line.
It really doesn't bear thinking about. It is scary, and I try to not think about it...
Well, once every 3 months. My little brain and heart can take that.
Just.

Jasper was scheduled to start Tee Ball Camp today. It is 4 hours a day for 4 days, and he did it last school holidays, and LOVED it!
I had told the Camp people that he would be late, as it starts at 9am, and his appointment for bloods was at 9.15am.
We were at the hospital for AGES!!! by the time we got out, it was 11.30. Jasper still wanted to go to Camp and join in for the last hour, so we did - it was on the way home anyway!

Ok, so below are the blood counts we mainly track..
The number in brackets is considered the normal range.
The number after is what Jasper's count is.

Haemoglobin (115-155) 132
White Cell (4.5-14.5). 4.8
Platelets. (150-400) 128
Red cell. (4.0-6.0). 3.73
MCV. (75-92). 102
Neutrophils. (1.5-8.0). 1.68

The haemaglobin carries oxygen from the lungs into the body, and the carbon dioxide out of the body back to the lungs.

White cells are part of the immune system. They defend the body against infectious disease and foreign materials.

Platelets help clot the blood and are part of the healing process. This is one of the main indicators as to when we would head to a bone marrow transport.

Red blood cells are the most common type of blood cell in our body. It is about 1/4 of our blood. It carries oxygen into the body, and is rich in haemaglobin.

MCV (Mean Cell Volume) indicates the size of the red blood cell. A higher than average number (which Jasper always has had) can indicate an insufficient number of cells, and often insufficient haemaglobin content per cell. It can also indicate how stressed the marrow is.

Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell. They are an essential part of the immune system. They are one of the first responders to inflammation, and are the reason that your pus has a yellowish/whiteish colour (yummo!).

Ok, so there's your lesson for the day!!
Jaspers counts are a good lot, on the whole.

There are some "out of range" numbers, like MCV, platelets and red cells, but they are barely out of range, and for a FA kid, the numbers are pretty spectacular.
I just need to keep telling myself that.. GREAT NUMBERS GREAT NUMBERS. but there's a voice also saying that he is not just a FA kid to me, he is MY kid. (none of them are just a FA kid to me, they are all someone super special, and unique.)

At least I can sleep tonight knowing there is nothing for me to worry about with my boy and his blood. Other mums are not so fortunate. Ok, long story over.

Thanks for reading.

Brooke

Our Almost Perfect Day

It was New Years Day, 2012. What a great way to start the year!
It would have been a bit more perfect if I got to sleep past 5.30am, but hey, you can't break that habits of a lifetime!

I had some fun watching the kids in the splash pool

Molly got a float ring for Christmas. and that is what she has around her legs... Jasper is trying to fit into the float ring Molly got for Christmas in 2010... it is designed to fit up to 18 months... and it nearly fits!!!

The slide is on its side in the background because Jasper put water on it to make sliding faster, so when Molly and her nudie butt slid down, she got a grass burn on her sweet bottom!
She didn't make a peep, just went to go down the slide again...

After Molly had her nap, the kids and I went to my parents for lunch. Lunch was SUPERB. Restaurant quality stuff. Super yummy! (sorry, no photo!)
Here is Molly with her poppie near the vegetable patch...

Jasper playing darts... He did pretty good, and it is a good thing for his maths building!

 Poppie drawing a cat for Molly... it was hard to know who enjoyed it more!!!

 Then some stickers came out, and Molly realised the best place to put them is all over you... including in your mouth!!!

 Jasper helping Molly on the trike.
This trike was one I used when I was a kid, so it is 30+ years old, and still works a treat (they dont make things like that these days...)

 My mummy and her boy.
Aren't they gorgeous!

 Grandy with her baby girl.

 Snuggles in mummy's bed together.



I just had a wonderful day... it was relaxing, enjoyable and ... well, just awesome!!!

Happy New Year!!

Brooke