Bye Bye Kindy

On the 18th of July it was time for Hayden to say goodbye to the kindy he'd been at for almost two years - longer than half his life!

We were moving house two days later and he was going to start a new kindy.



Mum made cupcakes and took them into the class, they'd had a party for him there too and there were lots of balloons and some party games.

As well as missing his friends - the person he'd miss the most was his teacher, Brooke. She'd been with him from the start, firstly in the Starfish room when he was 16 months and she moved up to the Seahorse room when he did at the beginning of the year. They'd formed a pretty special bond.



Bye Brooke - bye Old Kindy!

Our visit to Paris, London and Dubai

From June 29 - July 15th we traveled overseas to Paris, London and Dubai - I don't have time to do the stories or photo's justice right now but wanted to reserve a spot in the succession of posts!

A quick visit to hospital - Happy Birthday Mum (28th June 07)

OMG - what a day!!

Firstly, it was my Mum's 60th. They'd been away for 11 days on a cruise and arriving back from Syd to Bris during the day. The 60th party had been planned, I'd taken RSVP's and was organising decorations, decorating and then going to pick them up.

After a busy morning of running around, Hayden and I set off to Bris, successfully collected them from the airport and drove home to being decorating. We had 100 helium balloons to inflate and other bits and pieces to hang.

Upon completion of the balloons I started to feel a bit out of it - pains in my upper abdomen. I lay down on the floor, trying to stretch out. Didn't help. I moved over the the couch and curled up. Still no relief. I went to the loo (you never know...!)... no help. Mum and Hayden had to go back to spotlight for more decorating supplies. I just lay there, trying not to moan. Eventually the pain got the better of me and I started to really feel it. Dad was now concerned and called my Obstetrician. He advised I be taken to the maternity ward asap.

We made it there, I hobbled into the ward, mostly in tears and doubled over in pain. I was assessed, the baby was monitored (and all signs were good) and the Dr arrived. Meanwhile Erin was being rushed back from a meeting in Brisbane to get to me. My OB said it could be one of two things (most likely) - severe reflux or a gall stone. He was going to order an ultrasound for the morning. I reminded him that the next evening (like in 27 hrs) our plane was LEAVING for 2 weeks overseas.

Oh.

Spanner.

He managed to convince a radiology staff member to return and do my scan that night. Phew. Erin arrived, Dad left, I had a pethadine shot, I had another severe attack of pain and was crying, screaming, writhing. May as well have been in labour!

Scan revealed a HUGE gall stone. OMG.

Blood tests done, Dr left and went to my Mum's party... me still in hosp. Erin with me, Hayden at party.

Lots of conversations backwards and forwards trying to work out if I was able to fly the next night. We didn't have travel insurance (yet), I'd been rushing around so much that morning, it was literally on my PC screen to click - 'accept quote' and pay and I just hadn't done it. So we would've lost everything had we canceled. Not a great thought but seemed to be the general consensus by the medical staff.

Pain died off and I eventually felt tired. Time to sleep. Erin left. I had a pretty good night's sleep considering I had an IV drip in and was in a hospital bed.

Next morning (day of flight). OB visited, said if we go on trip it's at a risk. Advised us to make the decision after speaking to the surgeon. Surgeon came - very relaxed, said he wasn't going to operate until at least bub born and weaned so he didn't see any urgency in it. I had no infection or inflammation. Good signs. He said it was a risk to go, however I would know what the pain was, would have adequate pain medication and would be in a countries with adequate medical care and good English speakers.

We were going!

Erin arrived - with Hayden - Yay!

I gave him the good news and we got the hell out of there! Time to pack, we had a plane to catch!!!

My boys on my hospital bed...

A visit with Flipper (21st June 07) and a bit of a trip....

What a lovely surprise! Flipper and Archie were out for a quick visit to Australia before returning to DC to pack up two houses and head of to Sarajevo... no mean feat!

Hayden and I drove down to Bris to visit for the morning. What a great time we had, Flip getting to know Hayden (and observe what it's like to parent a 3yo!!!) and I had lots of cuddles with Archie - awwwwww.

Me with Archie


Flipper with Hayden


Mum's with son's .... who would've thought?!?!


The trip home was much more eventful though, we stopped at McDonald's (Old McDonald's as far as Hayden is concerned!) for some lunch before the hour ride home, after lining up at the drive through only to discover I had no cash and they had no eftpos we went inside, waited in line for ages, were served by a very rude IDGARA style employee, then proceeded to head back downstairs to the car. Well... I was holding Hayden's hand and a bag of food and somehow lost my footing and fell down the stairs - pulling Hayden with me. He began shrieking - mostly due to the fact that his chips were now all over the stairs. I was stuck, shocked and sore, having fallen heavily on my ankle and twisted it. A gentleman saw us go down and went to get some help. In the mean time a young guy came and sat down next to Hayden, shared his fries with him (God bless him) and opened the Shrek toy to divert some attention from the disaster. I eventually felt okay enough to move. The rude waitress yelled down at me from the top of the stairs, asked if I needed ice - um... no thanks... and did I want new food... um.... of course.... I managed to keep it together and get us up the stairs to wait on our order (again!) and the stairs were cleaned, we then got our new food and left. It was quite the ordeal. B2 was fine though, the damage was to my backside and ankle and pride somewhat. When we got home it turned out the damage was also to my camera, the TFT screen was completely smashed... omg. We were due to fly out in one week for Paris, we couldn't go with NO camera.... my phone also sustained some impact damage. Less of a stress factor. In the end, I organised a replacement camera through insurance, they were fantastic and we had a new one in about 3 working days, plenty of time to spare!

Nana and Pop Pop from the USA (25 May - 11 June 07)

May/June was a busy time for us, the house had sold, uni semester was drawing to a close, my belly was growing, Hayden was turning three and Erin's Mum and Dad (Hayden's Nana and Pop Pop) came out for 2 1/2 weeks from the USA to visit.

Hayden was very spoilt and had some wonderful playtime with Nana and Pop Pop whilst they were here. Here is the visit - pictorially!

Yay - they came off the plane!!


Watching a movie (most likely Cars with Pop Pop


A walk with Nana and Pop Pop - first to the park for a swing...


And then to the beach - looking for crabs...


On my Birthday on the boat with Pop Pop


Another walk - different park, convincing Nana to slide after me!


Doing my "Eggcherzizes" at the park...


Awww... Kisses for Nana


Playing soccer with Nana in the back yard


At the zoo - watching the baby goats - how cute!


Feeding the hungry goats


Feeding the kangaroos - always our favourite part of the zoo visit


Riding on the 'Crocs Rule' boat with Nana


Riding on Steve's Land Cruiser


A sunset beach visit, being chased by Pop Pop


Getting darker - laughs in the sand with Pop Pop


A plane ride with Nana and Pop Pop - plane flown by B'Pa.


Time to go - goodbye kisses with Nana.

Hayden Turned Three! (27 & 31 May 07)

Now I realise it's been three months since my angel's Birthday - but none-the-less... I'm getting there!

We had a great party for him, the party was 4 days prior to his Birthday and we had it at home in the back yard - 22 kids - yikes! The saving grace was the jumping castle which was worth every penny and even though it rained practically the whole party, nobody cared and everyone had a great time.

He had to be a little bit persuaded to get on the jumping castle at first - but after Daddy showed him how much fun it could be, there were giggles and squeals all around







The cake was a huge hit - it took about 9 hours of work all up so I was pleased that it was so well received!



And considering Hayden's a non cake eater, he loved it.



He received some lovely gifts - including this awesome dragon's tail!



Soggy child! It absolutely poured down just before the castle was due to leave - oh well - kids dry!

We put the barbie on for the stragglers, parents and kids after 5ish and people hung around until 8ish which was lovely - we had a great day.

One of his gifts started something though - he had a Thomas train engine and Henry and his tender and he had other track that the trains didn't quite fit but he didn't mind - until he got a Thomas engine house, it didn't fit with the larger track so there were tears all'round! On Monday I had to (well... it was his Birthday!) go out and buy some compatible track - I think all in all I made 6 trips to toy stores that day, one of them with Gordon in tow. This is what we ended up with by the end of the day...



Then on Thursday was his actual Birthday. We started the day by showing him his new 'baby' Guinea Pig who remained nameless for a few days and then suddenly became 'Crystal'.



We then went out on the boat for lunch - and as usual, turn on a motor and Hayden is asleep!



And then there were more gifts and more cake after pizza dinner with both sets of Grandparents.



OMG - a whole stack of presents!




Obvious excitement at opening 'Mr The King' from the moviCARS



This cake was made by mum Mum.






So.... that was the Birthday! Hard to believe that he's three already - such an independent little person - it's been an amazing three years and I wouldn't change a thing!

b2

I had the second scan done yesterday - am 19 weeks today, how time flies.

Here are the best two shots from the scan....





We also got some little snippets of vid - but I can't be bothered putting on youtube yet to get it on here... so much effort for about 4 seconds of movement!

That's all for now.

Look at Moi, Look at Moi!

Yes - I graduated from University!




The ceremony was last night at the Uni, it was an amazing feeling to be up there in the gown/hat etc walking across the stage as my name was read out.

Here it is in print... officially!



And although this is a little blurry (being so far away, zoomed, and indoors at night...) it shows me with all the 'bits' after being handed them on stage.



So, it's now official - I'm a University Graduate... FINALLY!!!!!

Apart from that, we've been busy selling houses, buying houses, buying a boat and teaching, working, changing jobs and doing Honours.

To break that down a bit...

I reported last time that the house sold - it's unconditional now and we settle in 2 months. We bought the one we wanted (here is the link again) and settle on that one on the same day as this place, move booked in for 21st July. I'm looking forward to being in it although we'll miss this place and the area and our friends here a lot, a new start will be great.

The boat....

Part of our plan in selling this place and buying another was to free up some time for Erin (being able to give up weekend work) and also some money (tied up as equity in this house) which would then enable us to buy a boat. Well, as it turned out, Dad sold his boat a couple of months ago and was looking for another, similar to what we wanted, he found a good one at a good price and we decided to go halves in it. Here she is



Erin is off doing his boat course today for his license and I'll do mine after we get back from holidays, not enough time between now and then!

We took it out on Mother's day for an afternoon cruise up Pumicestone Passage and berthed on a deserted beach on Bribie Island - here is Hayden trying to give a helping hand



Uni teaching semester ends this coming week - time does fly by. I'm in amongst a lot of marking right now and then the students hand in their final essays next Wed. I have 2 assignments to do for my Advertising subject for honours, I've been going really well in the assessment thus far, it's a good course.

Erin has changed jobs, he's now working for the water tank company that I (sort of) work for, he'll be full time as of Tue week, he resigned on Thursday from his job after over 3 years there. He'll be doing all the logistics and planning of delivery's etc, which will keep him very busy.

That's about all for now, up to date!

What happened to two months....???

Well... how time flies hey??

The past couple of months have been a bit of a blur, the weeks all seem to merge and we rush around at lightening speed in order to achieve anything. I'll try to recap some of the more memorable and mentionable events (ie: the ones we have photos of!!)

Swimming Lessons



We're still doing swimming lessons every week, Hayden is becoming very good at propelling himself across the pool. They are learning to use their arms and do their breathing with the use of kick boards. He is still in the class with Gracie who he has been with for over a year and the other girl in his class is Leilani.

Farewell Carley, Nic & Saxony

In early March we went to Brisbane for a BBQ to farewell my cousin Nic and his wife Carley and their (then) 5 month old daughter Saxony. They were leaving Brisbane to move out to Longreach which is where Nic grew up and where the rest of his family still is. We had a great day at J.C. Slaughter Falls, Hayden enjoyed some cricket and loved seeing his new cousin and all the other babies around.





Camping Trip #1

The last weekend in March we went on the first of our back-to-back camping trips. We hadn't been out camping since our post Christmas trip up to North Shore, we were keen to use all our new 'stuff'!

We arrived on Friday night and set up quickly as the light was fading, we thought our site worked really well - it was the first time our tarp had been up, and the whole tent fits underneath - yay!





We were out there with a few other families and there were lots of other children for Hayden to play with, we camped at the Charlie Moreland campsite near Kennilworth, it was lovely.

Then - onto...

Camping Trip #2

Yes... suckers for punishment!! We had our Easter camping trip planned long before the previous weekend came up, so naturally we were still going to go. We were meeting friends Simone and Craig there, and we were looking forward to catching up. We left home early on Good Friday morning and were there by just after 8.30am. This time we went to Borumba Dam, near Imbil which is only just over an hour away. We had a great site, not too crowded and down near the creek end. With not much else to do, we spent time relaxing, lazing in the hammock and sitting around the fire at night. Hayden made some lovely friends from a campsite about 100 meters away which kept him busy and occupied the whole time - perfect! We perfected the art of the washing up bucket bath too... ahhh!







Then on Easter morning, the Easter Bunny miraculously managed to find our tent! Hayden was thrilled with the idea of his Lightening McQueen and Thomas the Train eggs, but given that he doesn't like chocolate, he was very happy to have some jelly lollies as substitutes.







We came home on Easter Monday and then felt like we'd never been away!

In the mean time...

Uni semester is going really well, teaching is great, I'm loving it and have some great students. I'm about to start marking my second set of essays, which isn't too terrible. I'm also doing well in my first unit of honours coursework. I'm doing a creative advertising unit which is interesting.

The other big news is that we're expecting our second bub and all is well, yay! I'm currently over 14 weeks, we've had our Nuchal scan and all is looking good. We took Hayden to 'see the baby' when we had the scan, he was so excited, but the baby wasn't doing much so I don't think it was as entertaining as he'd anticipated. We have another scan in just under 4 weeks which I think will be a lot more exciting for him.



Our trip to Paris, London and Dubai is looming closer, only 10 weeks now until we fly out - crazy!!

We've also sold the house and it goes unconditional either today or Monday, we're looking to buy one tomorrow, it goes to auction but we'd like to get it after if it does not sell. Prepared to bid though if we (I - given that E will most likely be at work) have to.

I'm also still working for H2Options which takes up any and all spare time I think I might have each week - ideally I need some time off from there, which I may have just orchestrated, although now that I'm not so exhausted it's getting a little easier to be at full pace all the time.

So... they are all my excuses!
Till next time... xx