Thursday, 11 September 2008

And the rotten mother of the year goes to…me

I have topped all charts for mother guilt here. What sort of mother leaves her 3 year old suffer a broken arm for 4 days? Well –this one.

On Sunday afternoon, whilst I was preparing some afternoon tea, the kids played out on the lawn with Age. Lilly had a long ribbon tied to a stick and was enjoying the beauty of it fluttering in the air. She started to twirl around and around with it; but Adrian told her to slow down and to stay in the middle of the grass as she kept coming close to the fence and the brick edging. Of course she did neither, got dizzy and fell over onto the bricks with a crack. She sported an egg on her head and was slightly concussed. We went though all the tests for a broken limb and although tearful, she seemed to be fine and able to do all the twisting of her wrist and griping motions. We iced her arm, bandaged it and I took her to bed for a cuddle and a calm down; careful not to allow her to go to sleep.

After about half an hour she pepped up and ran outside as good as gold. We went to the park and continued our day. She had a little bruising on her arm that night – but her other arm had been scraped by the bricks – so looked worse.

I kept and eye on her and got her to do all the testing a few times a day. She was a little protective of her arm and less boisterous – but even a bruised arm can hurt a lot. The kicker for me to take her to the doctors was last night. After bathtime – she loves to be swung up in the air by her arms ( I know – a nice calming sedative pastime – just before bed) She raised her arms up to me wanting to be swung up – so I obliged. She screamed for over an hour. Our Miss Lilly is s tough little nugget – so I knew this was serious. We iced and bandaged her up again and made an appointment with our local doctor – no use in trekking out at night to the outpatients to wait there in the cold for hours.

I don’t have a ‘doctor’ – but have visited this new clinic just up the road a few times- they have a skin cancer clinic there – which is a must do every year – especially in our climate. He is very sweet and very thorough and took Lillys arm very seriously. He did all the same tests that I had and asked her where it hurt. She did say it hurt but didn’t cry or seem agitated at all – so he said he wasn’t concerned. He wrote a referral for an x ray and said that if I really felt it was necessary then to go and get it seen to in the next few days.

As I drove out of the carpark, I thought – bugger it – we are out and about – might as well totter down to the nearest xray place to get it looked at… Lilly was so funny getting it done. She asked lots of questions and was very serious about it all –earning her a few stickers. I saw the xray as it came on the screen – and even to my untrained eye I could see the damage.

So back to the surgery we went and was fitted in immediately. Lilly has a hairline fracture on both bones very close to the wrist. The lumpy bit at the end of the bone has a slight chip as well. She sat very still while she was bandaged up. Nothing gets past her! One of the male nurses walked past and she said quietly to me – “Mummy – that man has a lolly in his mouth.” He looked at her in that startled rabbit stare and swallowed the offending sweet. I told him he had been sprung. He grinned and offered Lilly a few of the lollies in the jar beside him.

Back home - she is less enamored with her cast. She has successfully pulled out as much of the wadding that she can get to. I had to leave her for a few moments in the bath to help Morgan and came back to find she had ripped off the very tightly bandaged plastic bag and was merrily dunking her arm in and out of the bath.

On the way to bed she announced she didn’t need it any longer and showed me that she can twinkle her fingers and roll her wrist without it hurting. Sigh.. my Miss Lilly. Our Little Warrior Princess.

Sunday, 7 September 2008

Fathers Musings

Happy Fathers Day!

We purposely had a very restful fathers day – with little structure or plans… delightful! The kids jumped into bed with us in the morning and presented Adrian with handmade gifts and pressies we had chosen together. Lilly had a book with a little scruffy haired girl called Molly – and very like her and had worked hard on a beaded necklace – which she wore immediately.

Morgan had a little pair of shears and a larger Daddy one – so of course they had to go out and cut things down together! He also made a little dog made of pegs which holds a pen – for Adrian’s desk. Its so cute – should have gotten a photo before it headed off to Adrian’s work. I can’t imagine being a craft teacher thinking – what crap thing can we make out of this rubbish? …. And then go ahead and create something quite funky.

I have just taught Morgan to make us a cup of tea. He knows to be very careful with the h
to water and the safest spot to pour it is on the floor. Quite disturbingly he likes to have a head set on while he makes tea – it’s an Australia Idol thing – a gift from a friend of mine who works in call centres – but it makes him look like a McDonalds check out dude. Too funny.

Talk about little mirrors – Morgan has decided that he won’t be wearing a top to bed any more- Daddy doesn’t – and the other night he announced he is not wearing PJs at all – as Daddy doesn’t.. after nearly choking on my cuppa – a family decision was made that we all wear PJS thanks very much….

So the rest of Fathers Day was spent pruning bushes to make a sort of cubby house in the front yard, weeding and then a respite to go to the new park the kids had discovered near the airodrome. Very cool – lots of great things to do and a flying fox which Morgan could just swing on till it got dark.

Home again – and Age made the kids a Bobby Dazzler – a mocktail he makes for me when I have a cocktail night – lots of sugar and whipped cream and 100s and 1000s – a kids dream.

Age washed his bike with Morgan – it had been raining the week before and it was pretty muddy and gross. Age is now riding at least 7 trips a week – trying for the magical 10 trips. It’s a bit over 26 km into town and takes him an hour and 15 mins – but is slowly beating that time down. Not amny bikeways to go on – but he has chosen back streets as much as he can and he reckons its very restful and distressing.

Had Mum and Dad up on Thursday – they actually drove themselves up ( with the help of a new Navman) wow!! So impressed. I took them out to lunch at the kids favourite restaurant – the Lone Star. So proud of them that they made it that far – so no excuses now – not to pop and see us hey?

M
y exciting news this week of course is that I was interviewed by Mr Dad – a USA radio guy – on my book I co-wrote with Jodi Cleghorn. I have ot admit I was very nervous beforehand – but did some voice exercises and re jigged my thinking and then was cool after that. I am kicking myself as you always think of perfect answers afterwards – just hope we sounded like we knew what we were talking about…. Will keep you in the loop on the release of the podcast.

Well – best be off – hugs to all and happy fathers day!

Sunday, 31 August 2008

Is This The Face of Evil?

So I ask you - is this the face of evil? allow me to inform you that YES - it is.....

On Saturday, we went to a Mad Hatters Party to play croquet. Its beyond me why and how lawn bowls became more popular. Apart from our team not knowing who went next and confusing the colours up – we had a hoot and I am sure once you get those things down pat , it is a very fast and sociable game. Adrian was on the ‘other’ team…( oh and he had a possum stuck to his hat. I might add here that when he was looking for ways and means to attach the said rodent to his headware, Lilly was most insistant that he NOT staple it as it would hurt the possom.)

We played a competitive game called gateways –where as a team you strategize to get one of your team members through the hoop before the other team. There is a lot of bumping the other teams balls out of the way to ensure the next person in your team could have a clear run through the hoop. Adrian, without fail, knocked my perfectly formulated hit, right out of the way. A definite game to play with friends or workmates to improve communication and strategizing… I’ll have to do some internet searching to see if I can include my experiences with Captain Juan!

The kids had a good knock around with the mallets too and it seemed to be popular with each group we went and had a chat to. The party was in honour of a good friend – Sarah – turning the grand age of 40. not that I should laugh or think thats old.. not far away for me at all.. what a terrifying thought.

The weather has started to turn into sultry summery temperatures, having skipped spring all together. The rains have come and I love to hear it on the tin roof out the side. I am sure it won’t be long before the kids get in the pool – but its still got iceburgs in it as far as I am concerned. We are all looking forward to getting back into camping – with our first date set at the end of September – up in Girraween.

My week is filled with writing articles or short stories or lately working website updates and tweeks. Its so frustrating and takes so long. What we want on the site changes – and so does all the parameters. I am learning lots – doing a fair bit in HTML – as I have no software to build it with… so its all good experience I guess.

I am doing a bit of a chuck out and overhaul of cupboards – so anything not tied or nailed down is being scrutinized and chucked out. How many damned towels does one family need… and don’t get me started on t-towels..

A bit scatty tonight – haven’t had much of a chance to write or do stories this week – all website stuff which I have promised myself to stop doing – I can be up till 3 am fiddling.. and its not good for sleep patterns ( which are getting more and more out of whack)

Thanks for reading and keep commenting- makes me feel like this matters….