2 Boys = One Bed = Trouble

Aiden and Conor are really bad at cleaning their room and end up playing typical boy games. This was the result of their last one...


That is a fantastic bruise on Conors behalf and within a few hours had become a gorgeous black eye. No sympathy from me!

On another note, whilst training my rather large and rather exhuberant male stafford to do the chute tunnel at training, he bit me. He came through the tunnel like an express train, knocked me over and play mouthed me with one of his canines going through my lip...yes it hurt....(sigh) and I wonder where Conor gets it from!

Cheers

Winning Isn't Everything

Aiden can't swim. I mean, he can swim a bit but he is really bad at it. The boy has no internal flotation devices. If sinking was an Olympic sport it would be gold, gold, gold all the way.

He is also terrified of deep water. He fell into the ocean and nearly drowned as a toddler and was saved by Fred. Fred is the gnome that lives in my head, he wears stripey socks, hobnailed boots and lederhossen. (Hey if Pinocchio can have a cricket, I can have a gnome.) Anyway, we were at the beach and Tony was looking after the kids. Aiden wandered off the edge of a submerged sandback and was face down thrashing. Fred booted me in the ear and made me look around. I got to him just in time.

Ever since that day, Aiden has been scared of deep water. If he can touch he is like a dolphin but take him deep and he will climb up your body and sit on your head screaming, "Get me back, get me back!" Every Friday during summer we go to the school pool and have a play. Each child is challenged to do something above their comfort zone to earn money. Ok, its bribery but it works. Caitie swam a length of the pool, Conor swam underwater and Aidens challenge was to jump into the pools deep end. I knew he could do it but he was terrified. It took him nearly two months to get up the nerve to do it. Yes, he did it and, on the day he did, I told him good job, nonchalantly turned away and wiped a tear away.

So, Aiden can't swim, okay?

Sooo, I got a phone call from the school asking me to bring his swimmers to school. Puzzled, I did it, only to find that the "swimming" was the schools tryout for the regional trials. I explained it to him, his teacher explained it to him and he was adamant he wanted to have a go. I shared a bemused glance with his teacher and went home.

That afternoon, Aiden came home, tears welling in his eyes and said, in a shaky voice, "I did one swim and they told me to hop outta the pool." I broke....

I told him that I was so proud of him for having a go, for trying, for just doing something so out of his comfort zone and I...was...proud...of him!

And do you know what I was most proud of (and I told him this) he figured out a way to get out of his classroom and into the pool on one of the hottest days of the year. He grinned... yep, got him figured....

Cheers,

Umm...Pardon?

The sign on Caities bedroom door this evening....

I love her, I really do, she makes me laugh!

I, Superhero

I am six days post-op from having my carpal tunnel operation on my right hand.


For those of you who don't know, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is caused by repetitive motions with the offending limb. For those of you with your minds in the gutter, go and have a cup of tea and come back when you're sensible.

TYPING caused mine. The tendon in my hand collapsed onto the nerve and caused burning, tingling, loss of strength and other nasty symptoms. So, I went in and had the tendon removed...under local cause I am woman hear me roar! Ok, its was more of a whimper or an OWW, hey that hurt, but you get the drift.

Six days out of surgery. I am just starting to get the movement back and some of the strength in my hand. So, ask me what I did today? Go on...ask, you know you want to.

I cleaned my laundry, replaced one of my dog crates, fixed same crate, swept the floor, picked up the bits of fluff from a torn cushion, hung the washing out and took some off the line. I'm sore.

Why is it that woman feel the need to don our superhero outfits when we should be resting? The day I came home from having a tongue dissection and lymph node removal from my neck (yeah you should see my cool scar!) I was hanging out washing. The day after that ...I was back in the hospital blown up like a frog cause I did too much. Its a woman thing, the world will fall down around our ears if we don't pick up the reins.

Its got nothing to do with the fact that our men are slightly in the useless department when it comes to keeping the house schmicko. Oh they will do their best but its not the same as if we
had done it! And its not quite as good as we would have done it. But, if are going to be anal retentive, thats what we have to do. Because no-one else can do it like we can. So we feel we must wear our Wonderwoman accessories to keep our homes in order.

Now I've said that, I'm going to go and rest...until I notice Tony has folded the towels wrong!

Cheers,

Hanging By a Moment

Like most siblings, my two oldest fight like cats and dogs. They can spit like the crankiest cats and bite like the snappiest of dogs. They niggle, they tease, they boss and they annoy.

And yet, this afternoon we were taking the dogs for a run at the beach. On the long trek back from the low tide line, Caitie and Aiden walked, hand in hand, heads together, talking quietly the whole way. They were in their own little world and it was magic to see.

My internal mummy camera took a picture and I will remember that moment for a long time.

Cheers,

Cin

Feelin' the Lurv.

Like all kids, mine say the darndest things at the darndest times. Caitie, at 11, was walking along the other day and absently rubbing her chest. I was concerned and asked her what was wrong. To which she replied "Aww, I've got a boob comin' in."

I wet myself.....

And Conor was in the pool with me the other day. I have Carpa; Tunnel Syndrome in both my hands and have cortisone injections to keep the symptoms manageable. I told him he had to be gentle with me because the injections weren't working and my hands were really sore. He gazed lovingly into my eyes and said, softly and quietly, "Suck it up princess!"

I heart him, I really do!

Cheers,

Cin

A Decade of Life...

1999 ended with a bang. At least, I think it may have? I was asleep, having been up with my young daughter and being just pregnant with our second child. I remember Christmas was awful that year with many clashes between ourselves and my husbands parents. I nearly lost the baby due to stress so the last thing I wanted to do was celebrate. I was woken by the hulabaloo at midnight, yawned rolled over and went to sleep.

Y2K didn't happen, the computers didn't die, the world didn't end (at least not then) and the next ten years would be filled with life, love and loss.

My greatest triumphs were my children. Caitlin Marie, a spitfire with a heart of gold. She adores her brothers and loves to drive us bananas. She is now 11 and we can just see glimmers of the young woman she will become. The time goes so fast.

Aiden Anthony, my special boy. A lovely bear of a baby, fat as butter with a rollicking laugh that would send everyone into fits of giggles. He was an easy baby, a dream of a toddler and emerged into a slightly off center child. Diagnosis this year is of Aspergers Syndrome. We now have the help we need at school and I can see a bright future for him.

And Conor James. Last but certainly not least. Full of fun and sure of his good looks and charm, Conor adores everyone and everyone adores Conor. He makes friends wherever he goes, is slow to cry and quick to forgive.

I love you my babies!

We have had ten years of memorable moments and those moments we would like to forget.

June 2001 found me in a battle I could not hide from. Diagnosed with tongue cancer, I had to endure two operations on my mouth, removal of a large part of my tongue, learning to talk and eat again and, the worst part of all, being seperated from my children for nine days while in hospital. I am now clear of the cancer and have been for the last nine years.

In 2003 we lost Tonys adored Grandmother. She was the only member of Tony's family who welcomed me. A prickly old curmudgeon, she loved all her grandchildren, loved me and simply worshipped her greatchildren. Our world has been a little darker since then.

2004 heralded the birth of baby Conor, making our family complete and throwing interesting challenges to us. Caitie started school and had to be pulled out on the second day because I selfishly went in to labour! It was also a week of horrendous temperatures followed by massive storms. The final outcome was worth it though LOL! Initial prenatal scans revealed a possible problem with his kidneys and scans at 6 weeks confirmed it. It was heartbreaking to watch them strap my tiny baby boy into this massive machine. The results were conclusive though, Conor has only one functioning kidney. He lives with it well, only requiring extra fluids during excessively hot weather.

2005 was a year that I could cheerfully forget. We put the back deck on our home, endured argument upon argument with the builders....and then...

My beloved baby boy, not quite 2, climbed over the railing and fell four meters, striking the handrail as he fell. I heard him scream, couldn't find him and finally looked over the balcony to see him, hysterical at the bottom of the stairs. His face was covered in blood. I screamed for Tony to call OOO. Tony was the one who scooped him up. I couldn't look. His face was split open and I was convinced he was going to die. I spent the next twenty four + hours holding my child as he was prodded, poked, X-rayed, given needles, stitched, bandaged, vomited all over himself and then re-bandaged. Four stitches. Thats it. Four stitches, a humdinger of a black eye and a scar that chicks are going to love!

And that wasn't the end of it either! A few weeks later, he hit the corner of his eye on a coffee table...one stitch (wasn't really worth the effort was it!) And then he fell off the slide and headbutted the only piece of concrete in the entire yard. I rang husband, told him to come home, the ambulance was on its way! Super glue that time. Dangerous child!

Like all families we have had breaks ( 2 at last count, both Caitie, both arms), infections (Aiden has a snodger of an infection in his knee), burns (yeah me and fat don't mix), one bout of cellulitis (stupid husband stood on a stupid nail), illness, colds and flus but the scariest had to be croup.

Caitie came down with croup at around the age of six. She was coughing so hard she was vomiting. She was turning blue. I called the ambulance. I then proceeded to be abused by the ambos for NOT taking her to the hospital. They put her on oxygen and we were quickly taken to the hospital and back home again. The following week Aiden got croup. Alot worse. His head was bobbing, he was uncommunicative, making no sense and lapsing into unconsciousness. Heeding the warning by the ambo's, I put him in the car and drove to the hospital like a mad thing. Luckily I put the heater on in the car. He was rambling and making no sense. When we arrived at the hospital, it was to have him immediatly put on steroids. Very scary and a lesson well learnt. If in doubt, ring the ambulance and ignore the sarcasm.

Together, Tony and I have celebrated twelve years of marriage, a second surprise wedding, enough hassles to last another ten years and at least twenty worth of bad luck. A little good would be nice around about now. I am looking forward to something good happening in 2010.

Happy New Year to Everyone

Cin