Weddings and frills

We have just been to a beautiful wedding – that of Xanders mum and dad – Bec and Eli. Xander comes for sleep over when Donna comes to look after the kids for our rare date nights. Set overlooking the Brisbane River at Bulimba, they had a gorgeous backdrop for photos and for guests to enjoy quiet drinks and nibbles.

Bec arrived in a boat resplendent in a fitted red dress, he long hari twinned in ropes and tied with fresh daisies. She carried a possy of daisies and simply glowed. I haven’t been to a wedding for years an d listien to the vows again – the look on the young faces of that couple, eager and innocent, full of hope and joy.

Weddings really are a reflection on your own thoughts toward marriage –what you see in it – what your hopes are. I found myself bleary eyed, the tears constantly running. I can’t explain why or for what reason. Morgan made me laugh – he said loudly to Lily, Mummy isn’t sad – girls cry when they are happy. I was happy for Bec and Eli. Delighted that they had made their commitment in front of their friends and family.

My two monkeys looked great in their finest – Lilly proudly showing off her broken arm in her satin gown. I am glad I bought the gorgeous dress and Morgans matching waistcoat, bow tie and pants. We’ve used them for just about every good occasion and dinner we have been to for a year. Sad days ahead – in not too distant future – when they don’t fit any longer. The kids had a table to themselves. I am not sure how many kids the chef was expecting – but the food for them kept coming out – at last enough chips, crumbed chicken wings, nuggets and sausages to feed 50. After four soft drinks each, I had to put a stop on their sugar consumption. They were starting to go just a bit mad and wer peaking in their sugar high as the speeches were set to begin. Young Xander – bless his heart, told Lilly off for being so noisy during his dads speech.

One of the funny things that happened at the wedding was that I met one of my first art teachers. A red haired lady came round lighting the red candles at each table. Her precise and neat blouse and prim jewelry gave her away to me – 20 years on mind you. I approached her and asked if hshe were an art teacher and her eyes glittered with recognition. I spoke about my writing projects – in particular the Reclaim Sex after Birth one. Its funny – once you mention you are writing something in that genre – it allows often complete strangers to open up and tell you details of their sex life that would not normally ever be discussed this side of a bottle of rum.

I also met Donnas new boyfriend and he was everything I had expected – cheeky , chatty and delighted to be in the company of the very lovely Donna. It seems happiness is everywhere – and out of my many fiends – Donna is one who deserves as much as the universe can dish out.

We decided to leave after Xander and Lillys tiff and leave the cake cutting and rest of the speeches to be said in relative silence. It was well after 9 in any case – so coupled with a sugar high, I think they did well to get that far.

Seaworld Expedition

Last night we tottered o ff to Seaworld for the Energex’s Staff Christmas Party. Its always held early as they want to include as many people in the celebrations as they can – with storm seasons in Oct to Jan – if it were held closer to Christmas then a great number of people would not bed allowed to come as they have to either stay close to base or be on call for disaster recovery. With al ittle over 6 thousand people there – it was like a very busy day at Seaworld with long line ups on popular rides.

We had around 3 hours to wander around Seaworld and get on as many rides and see as many shows as we could. Last year we stayed at Nara resort and had 2 days to explore – so had seen everything and went on most rides a number of times – so it wasn’t a mad dash. Lilly is a little taller this year and able to get one many of the bigger rides – she ‘is over’ the baby rides ( oh dear).

We sat in awe ( again) watching the dolphin show. The pure delight and rapture on both kids faces was enough to put a lump in my throat. What mad woman decided it might be a good idea to buy toffee apples and give them to two ravenous children at the start of the night? These pictures don’t fully show the extent of stickiness that ensued. I don’t like toffee apples ( well to be fair the last one I had was about 20 years ago and I remember the apple was shriveled and gross) but I have to say I really liked the ones the kids had – the apples were so fresh and the toffee not too sweet..

We planned our trek well and got to do and see everything that each person wanted. Lilly was too short to go on the Pirate Ship so Morgan and I hopped aboard. He was thrilled and delighted for about the first three swings. As it tipped higher and higher up, the poor lad clung to the silver grip bars for fear of his life. To his credit as I kept asking him if he was ok , he kept nodding. I put a protective arm round him but I am not sure if that settled him any. Although he said he thought it was fun – he didn’t want to go back on it. We rode the dragon flume several times and got very wet.

Lilly and I boarded the Burmuda Triangle ride ( she only scrapped it in with her height) and set off very excited. All the rides have a different feel for sure when its dark outside! We were up the front and again – to her credit – she did not show any fear. I had an arm round her and I could feel her heart pounding and she shook like a leaf in some of the spookier bits. Outwardly, she was smiling and she waved at the mechanical aliens. It wasn’t until we were 5 seconds from disembarking that she broke into tears and told me she was frightened. Oh bless her! After checking out the snoozing Polar bears, when asked what the best thing so far was – she chose the triangle ride…( oh dear)

We ended our evening off with some more sedate rides – I love the old fashioned merry-g-round and Lilly and I rode the horses for 3 sessions. I love the music and the gentle motion of the horses, the glitz of the decorations and the fancy mirrors. Lilly did really well with her arm in plaster – but I doubt that much would.

It was a great night and a real family fun experience where I felt very connected to each person. As a reward for our savings on our power consumption last quarter we are going to Dreamworld shortly - so have decided not to do this during school holidays – as we want to do it when we don’t have so many people to line up with.

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.