Bali 2014, The First Family Holiday

The plan was made, the bookings done... everything ready... except for one minor detail..

We were ALL set to fly to Bali as a family (Paul, myself, Paul's eldest son - Brent, Jasper and Molly) on Saturday 29 April.. we get to the airport, and BOOM! Catastrophe!

Who knew you needed 6 months validity on a passport to travel internationally? I didn't! Paul did, but assumed that as Jasper, my and his passports were all issued at the same time, it was ok... turns out, it wasn't ok, and Jasper couldn't travel. His passport expired inside the 6 month marker.

After a few tears and stress, I made the decision to stay in Perth with BOTH kids, and get the passport situation rectified, and hopefully fly out Tuesday afternoon..
Fast forward a few days, and with a super VALID passport in hand, the kids and I set out for the airport to hopefully fly the 3 1/2 hours to Bali..

It was about 10.30pm when we got out  of the airport (we cleared customs and immigration very quickly - benefit of having hand luggage only, and 2 kids as a lone woman!), Paul and Brent were waiting for us with a lovely driver, and off to the bungalow we went!

Our first day saw Molly get all she wanted, and Jasper get most of what he wanted... Molly wanted her hair braided, nails done, and to eat camel brains (keep reading, I will explain!).Jasper just wanted to shop.. don't know where that comes from, I don't like shopping, and Paul avoids it at all costs!

Here are some pics of our little adventure

Breakfast Day 1

 Molly and I getting our feet kissed by little fish... it felt super weird, but once you get over the initial sensation, it was funny!

Princess Moo getting her nails painted, while she got her hair platited... it's hard being spoilt!

 Jasper didn't miss out, he asked for a shoulder massage, and got one! (he was super embarrased to have his photo taken, hence the face!)

 Plaited Princess

 My bogan Aussie girl - new bikini.

Me relaxing while Paul swims with the kids

 Some of our friends, Michael and Isher, who were in Bali at the same time, came by for a drink.

 Paul and the kids at the front gate of our accomodation, looking out into the Gang (laneway)

 Dinner at Yogi's (where the kids were going to get Camel Brains)

 The step-son with his ribs

 The boys being silly

 Molly with her Camel Brain

 Jasper with his Camel Brain

 Daddy with his Princess

 Jasper LOVES his big brother

 My bogan girl

 me with my bogan babies

 hmmm.. typical Aussies in Bali??

 How Molly got around most of the time..

 One of the Ogoh Ogoh from the Nyepi festival.. the kids and I missed this festival because of the delay in flying, but there were still some around for us to look at!

 On the beach...

At Circus WaterPark

 the chair of nails..

 brave lad!

 Jasper with another Ogoh Ogoh

 Looks familiar... kids in the pool!

 being watched by mum

 night time swimming with dad

 Jasper drinking his Sprite with a Bintang stubbie holder...

 Dinner at Poco Loco

 Mumma got a bit of deliciousness!

 Molly loved this little lady.. she taught Jasper and Brent a neat trick with cards to tell how old someone is!

 Boys again

 Molly with the camera -

 Me and my girl at our last breakfast

 back to the beach!

 walking walking walking...

 Our last dinner at the beach. One of the waiters made Jasper this prawn.. very clever

 and made Molly this rose!

 "look like you love each other"

 green tips in the hair

 Legian beach sunset

 Jasper ordered a pizza...

 jasper ate that pizza!! (oops, he is upside down!)

A close up of the prawn the waiter made.. it's made out of a straw... incredible!

 After the pizza, Jasper ordered (and ate) the hugest slice of chocolate cake!!!

 Molly after her icecream.. I think she liked it!

 The waiter who made the prawn and rose!

 Brent bought some "throw downs" little cracker things.. the kids had a blast blasting them at our feet!

 At the Bungalow on our wat to the airport.. this is Ketut.. he loved Paul (his very own Rhonda!) and was trying to convince Molly she wanted to stay and live there!
He was a very sweet man - like 99% of the Balinese people we met.

 On the plane, happy to be going home to her pups.

 Super tired boy, ready for his own bed!

totally wrong spot, and I'm too tired to move it.. Brent and Jasper on the first morning at breakfast!

Paul warned me that I would probably hate Bali the first time... I was well prepared though - he warned me well, and as a result, I really loved it! We can't wait to go back!

A great first family holiday - even with the rough start! Wont be making that mistake again! Check your passport expiry dates, everyone!!!

Thanks for reading (and viewing 80+ photos!)

Brooke

It's official... he is over 25kg!!!

Ok, it may not seem like a big deal, but EVERY time we go to the hospital to get weighed and measured (we, being Jasper, not me), he is hovering just under the 25kg mark..
Our last "weight" appointment was with a different department, so when they said he was 25.2kg, I just smiled and said to Jasper "don't get excited, we need to weigh on 3B scales". 3B is OUR department! That is the oncology ward, and I like to compare apples with apples, so there is only one set of scales I trust implicitly!
Well, today was the day. He is OFFICIALLY 25.65kg! (about 56.5lb).
I used to always say to him when he was under 25kg that he was grounded until he was over 25kg! The grounding is over!

Well, that was the fun part of the day... the blood draw was the awful part.

With FA, Jasper does not get a lot of choices. He is at the mercy of procedures and doctors. One of the choices he does get is around blood draws. He NEVER has a vein drain, ALWAYS a thumb prick. They get enough from that for a Full Blood Count (FBC) and for lipids (cholesterol).
Anyone who is anyone at our hospital knows that Jasper and needles are not friends. The only way they get decent amounts of blood for more detailed analysis is when he is under anaesthetic for his annual bone marrow biopsy... They are aware, they are happy to wait...

We go in today for a standard FBC, all is good. We get called, and all is good.
She says "which arm", I say "it has to be the left thumb, the right thumb is no good".
She looks confused, and reads the referral... I get scared...
She tells me 3B have requested a thyroid function, so need to use an arm, not a thumb.
Cue hysterical crying from Jasper with panicked yells of  "I'm not going to, I wont do it, you can't make me".
Cue crying from this mummy...

It was horrible. The LOVELY phlebotomy lady went to get some help... I told Jasper that if he didn't let the lady do the blood draw, they would get the big security guard to come sit on him to hold him down...
It took a bit of time, 2 ladies, and a snuggle from me, but we got there...

I am a firm believer that you can cry if you're scared... It is good for you... Jasper tells me he is not brave because he cried.. I said he WAS brave, because he was scared, and didn't move... he let them do what they needed to, and didn't move.

Enough of that, onto some counts... they couldn't print them out - it just kept spitting out blank paper, so I had to write it down.

Height: 132.5cm
Weight: 25.65kg

Haemaglobin 127
White Blood Cells 3.7
Platelets 131
Neutrophils 1.06
MCV 104

They are all pretty steady. Platelets went up a bit, MCV came down fractionally, white cells are down a bit - but he has been a bit off, so that is understandable.

All in all, no real change.

Plastics appointment Friday as a follow up for his thumb - we are going to be in trouble with that one!

Thanks for reading.

Brooke

School 2014

Well, today marks the day that I officially have no kids at home during school hours, 3 days a week...

Back to school 2014 sees Jasper entering Year 5, and Molly beginning Kindergarten.

It is a brand new school they are attending, and both were pretty excited!

I cried a couple of little tears saying goodbye to Molly. She was ok after a little bit to have her daddy and I go.. we will see if that continues tomorrow!

The first day of Kindy is bitter sweet for me.. it also marks the anniversary of the day that I was told of Jasper's FA diagnosis, 7 years ago. He was on his first day at Kindy when I got that phone call.

You always seem to remember specifics of traumatic events... and I remember the date and time of  that phone call, where I was, who I was with... It is forever in my memory.
Now look at him! 10 1/2, fighting fit, and in 5th Grade!!!
And little Molly, looking so grown up at only 3 1/2, traipsing off to school saying "it's ok, you can go" to me!

Time flies, my babies have grown. February 3rd 2014, a whole new exciting time of growth for these Miles children!

Thanks for reading.

Brooke

Christmas 2013

All that time, wrapping, thought and stress... it's over in the blink of an eye!

Christmas Eve marked the 14th wedding anniversary for Paul and I. We had a delicious "traditional" Christmas dinner - roast turkey and veg, followed by Christmas pudding!

Christmas Day had Jasper awake super early - but he was quiet as a church mouse til his sister woke at 6.30am. Then it was ON!
They woke their brother up, and with all of us present, we got to presents!!!

Jasper scored 2 games he wanted on the xBox, and a new skateboard among other things.
Molly got just what she wanted, a suitcase, pixie dust and a make up table!

Breakfast was bacon and eggs... not too extravagant as lunch is always a mammoth feast!

We headed down to my parents for lunch and the afternoon. It was a beautiful mild day, just perfect for Christmas Day - especially after the 40C day we had here last year!!!

My mum was insistent we have a family photo taken... here we are!

 and the kids.. good looking bunch, aren't they?

 Jasper opening his tee with Poppie - he was desperate for one, so he could keep practising his tee ball skills over the Xmas break!

 Brent with some hot red lips..

 Lip sharing to Molly.. kisses all round!

 Red lipped Molly with her Poppie

 My beautiful mum and handsome son

 The man and his boys!

 The mum and her babes

 Molly and her daddy having some pool time

 splashing around (and blinking when she shouldn't have!)

 oh, hello. there I am.

 Cricket fun for the boys

 time for a family swim!

 Molly getting warm with her biggest brother and daddy.

 goggle faced cutie!

 the afternoon saw us all just relaxing at home.. Molly with her new makeup...

 and the boys xBoxing away..

Boxing Day was more of the realxing and doing nothing... and now we are back to standard days and life as usual!

2014 will be another year of no medical dramas, all smooth sailing and lots of laughter - I hope!

Thanks for reading.

Brooke
xoxo

November 2013 blood counts

It seems I only remember to update the blog when Jasper has blood counts! Oops..
Well, today was the day for quarterly bloods.
All are ok,with not much change.

	22-Nov-13
White Cells (4.50 - 14.50)	4
Haemoglobin (115 - 155)	128
Platelets (150 - 400)	127
Red Cells (4.00 - 6.00)	3.72
MCV (75 - 92)	105
Neutrophils (1.50 - 8.00)	1.34
Lymphocytes (1.50 - 7.00)	2.04
Cholesterol (1.2 - 4.5)	6

Ok, so the red means it's a count that is out of normal range... the cholesterol should be red too.. need to fix my auto formatting!

We are being referred for the cholesterol count, to gastroenterology. Also, we are back to being on the referral list for dermatology, and will get a liver ultrasound in 3 months when we go back for more blood work.

We didn't see our usual doctor, but I think that was a good thing this time... the doctor we saw was SO thorough, and made sure all the referrals were in place and notes clearly written, so I didn't have to go through everything again next time (I am sure I will have to anyway, but the fact that she made such an awesome effort really made me happy!).

In other news, Molly has turned 10... well, she thinks she is 10, and she wants to be 10! She isn't happy she has to wait and be 4, then 5 etc... she wants to be 10 NOW.

Paul and I have made the decision to move Jasper's school.. we believe that the public system will be better suited to him and his needs. Private school does not provide the additional assistance that he may need, and with Molly starting school next year, it is the perfect time to move.

We are amazed at how excited he is to move. I was expecting a LOT of resistance, but he is super keen on it - might have something to do with the fact that this school does not believe in homework (!).. they might now, but this momma does!

Here's a couple of photos of the kiddies...

My handsome lad.

 Loving each other, instead of fighting!! (there was icecream on offer!)

 The most precious of moments...

Well, school is almost finished for the year (Hooray!), then we get ready for Christmas!!

I am so looking forward to the holidays. I have promised the kids I won't work too much, and hang out having some fun more than I work (!).

Thanks for reading,

I will TRY to update again soon..

Brooke

September Blood Counts

I keep forgetting to update here... usually I do things through FaceBook..
So, Jasper had bloods done again just the other day. We didn't need to see the doctors this time, that will happen next time.
I only get height and weight when we see the docs, so for today, we just have blood numbers.

• in brackets is the "normal" range.
• the first number is what he was 3 months ago
• the second number is from yesterday.

White Cells (4.5-14.5)         4.50       4.70

Haemoglobin (115-155)      131          124
Platelets (150-400)              110           119
Red Cells (4.00-6.00)         3.72          3.47
MCV (75-92)                           105           104
Neutrophils (1.5 - 8.0)        1.24          1.98

So, all in all, there is no change to speak of. No change is a good thing! It means no significant drop.

Jasper also has another splint to wear at night... he has flat refused so far, but the surgeon from his  thumb surgery is not happy that the thumb appears to be slipping back. The splint is for 6 months to see how it goes.. 

There is nothing else (medically) to report!

Thanks for reading

Brooke