The Biggest Loser

Jalen and Harri are both totally obsessed with the TV show, The Biggest Loser.

Every night at 7pm they go into our bedroom to watch it.

Jay even gets all his coloured singlets and t-shirts out and pretends he is on the different coloured teams!

He is always talking about different players and talks strategy and who should eliminate who. A couple of times I have even found Harri and Jay playing 'The Biggest Loser' where they have been weighing themselves on the scales and Harri yells 'I am 3.2!'. Like he even knows what '3.2' even means!! Jay knows he doesn't need to lose any weight and gets so excited when he actually puts some on :)

A couple of weeks ago Kmart was having an underwear sale, so I thought it was about time I went in to buy a few maternity bra's. Harri came with me and when I was in the change rooms I took off my t-shirt and stood there about to try on the new bra . Harri was sooooo excited and yelled out really loud 'Mum - you are the biggest loser!'. He was checking out my huge tummy and obviously thought I looked like one of the contestants! It was so funny - I couldn't stop laughing.

I can't wait till this baby is out, so I can really try to be the 'biggest loser!' :)

East V West

I told Anna I would have this post up by 9.30 pm tonight and I think I am just going to make it :)

Tonight was the big annual East Ward V West Ward basketball games. Aaron and I aren't big fans of the night as everyone takes it very serious - like we are playing in the NBA or something! Aaron was roped into umpiring the women's game, and I was roped into coaching (subbing) our women's team. It was very stressful as we had about 12 players and only thirty minutes to play and I wanted to make sure everyone got a fair go. Noah was also not happy and didn't help the situation, as I was trying to deal with him at the same time.

I was dying to have a bit of a play, so subbed myself on for a couple of minutes. I think I scared everyone with my huge tummy and was lucky to score a goal after a couple of minutes, so I figured that was enough time on court for me (as I was just about to die from running up and down the court a couple of times!) and subbed myself off.

The mens game was the big finale and they also had heaps of players, so it was hard for everyone to get some good time on court. Everyone had fun though and it was good to see everyone having a go - especially those who don't play basketball all the time.



During half time of the men's game the Primary kids had a bit of a game. There were kids aged between 2 and 11 playing at the same time, so it was very interesting :)



Caroline - the umpire, picked up Harri part way through the game to help him get a goal. He missed, but thought it was fantastic and came and gave me a hi-5 when he came off!


Overall East won the men and women's games (just!) but when the scores from all games were added together West ward won overall with total points. I'm glad it is over as I think it was more stressful having to sub 12 people on and off than to play!

Old Mac's Farm

Today with Family Based Care School Holiday Program we went to Old Mac's Farm. I went yesterday as a worker and knew that Jay was going to love it and that Harri was going to freak out! All last night I kept telling him how fun it was going to be at the farm and he started to come around and seemed a bit excited.

When we got there he was excited to see the rabbits in cages, but as soon as he saw chooks and ducks walking out in the open he started screaming! One of the workers picked him up and tried to calm him down, and he was fine until he would see another chook and then he continued to freak out. He was so scared that he even dropped his whole bag of feed right at his feet which was hilarious, as it meant about four chooks came running straight over to eat it! Harri was not happy.

After a while he started to calm down and enjoyed being able to hold the guinea pigs and rabbits. He even gave one a kiss!




Noah slept for the first half an hour, but it didn't stop the animals checking him out.


It is a great place for the kids as they get to hold and feed all of the animals. Yesterday we found it had a really calming affect on all the kids with autism.

Aaron was excited to hold a duck. He is always saying he wants a pet duck!

We also got to either have a pony ride or a ride in the cart. Jay chose to get on the pony.

The poor pony that was pulling the four of us! I don't know how it made it all the way around the lake and back.


Harri was very excited about the porta-loo! He thought it was a fridge and kept seeing people go in and out of it, and asked me if he could go into the fridge! When I told him it was a toilet he was even more excited and visited it many times.

I was supposed to work in the afternoon, helping at ten pin bowling, but got a phone call from the hospital saying Noah was having a CT scan done in the afternoon and had to be sedated for it. So instead Noah and I spent a fun afternoon in hospital. The CT scan was really fast, but they wouldn't let us go home until he was fully awake. He is getting cranky again - I just wish that we could get him settled for more than a few days at a time.

Tomorrow I have to work again at Old Mac's Farm and then ten pin bowling and also on Friday. I think I will be all farmed out by Friday!

Our new kitchen

At the end of last year I ran into our landlord, who said she had a proposal for us. She wanted to put in a new kitchen, but of course the catch was that our rent would go up. I didn't care as our kitchen was stuck in the 1960's and was awful. It did the job, but I never wanted to be in there.

Finally last week we got our new kitchen! We spent the afternoon clearing everything out so that the old kitchen could be ripped out.

For a few days our 'kitchen' was in the spare bedroom. We were only without an oven and stove for two nights which the boys were happy about, as it meant we got to get takeaway two nights in a row. We kept telling Harri that a man was going to come and build us a new kitchen and for a couple of days before he came he kept saying 'Daddy's a man - he can build it!'. He just kept wondering what the hold up was, and why Aaron couldn't do it! :)

Harri thought it was great fun when the guy would come each morning and start working on it. He would go and got his toy tools and would pretend he was helping him. When the old kitchen was taken out it was very exciting.

Harri and I were in and out all day, and it was exciting to see the changes when we would come home. It was amazing how fast it was to get a brand new kitchen. It only really took two days.

We are loving our new kitchen - especially having a dishwasher! We had one in our old house and really missed it when we had to move. I actually enjoy being in the kitchen now :) We still have to get the painting done and the lino ripped up so the floor boards can be sanded and polished and it will be finished.

Super Sunday

Aaron told me that the name of today was 'Super Sunday' as Hawthorn played their first game of the year and won by a lot. Of course that has nothing to do with this post, but I'm sure Aaron won't mind me mentioning it since football is his life after his family! :)

After church today we headed out to Mum and Dad's again, so we could catch up with Chrish before he goes home tomorrow and also meet Steph's sister Scarlett and her husband Jony, who are down from Sydney for a week.

Just after we got there everyone was going for a walk over to Uncle Kim's dairy - Chrish was after some 'real' milk. We told the boys we were going for a walk to get some milk and on the way Harri said 'are we going to the supermarket Mum?'.


Recently Harri has had a very traumatic experience with a big dog scaring him, and ever since he has been petrified of dogs. At Uncle Kim's we saw a dog tied up and at first Harri was very scared, but with some coaxing he finally made his way over and gave it a little pat.

Then Auntie Deidre's little dog came running over. That was a whole other story! He was petrified because it was tiny and was jumping up.

Chloe was totally different! She is amazing with animals and is all over them and not scared at all.

While we went for the walk Noah stayed and laid in bed with Grandma. When we got back he had a huge grin on his face. It is nice to have him happy again.

The kids had a nice time playing together. Kelsea and Chloe were so cute when they saw Noah laying on the lawn. Chloe kept looking at him saying 'No No' which is exactly what Jay used to call him when he was little.


The weather was so nice again that we decided to sit outside to have a yummy BBQ tea. Poor Jony got the talk from Dad about how you 'wouldn't get this view in Sydney' and told the entire history of the area! He kept encouraging Dad saying he wanted to hear it, but I think by the end of the week he will be glad to get back home! :)

After tea the boys decided to try out Levi's apple gun. Harri came running in to tell me that the boys had something that goes 'pow!' outside and wanted met to come and watch. He thought it was very exciting.

'Easter Bunny has been in our bedroom!'.

This morning Jalen woke up and said he turned his light on to see if Easter Bunny had visited. He saw a trail of eggs along the floor that Easter Bunny had left was so excited and woke up Harri. Supposedly Harri woke up and saw it and yelled 'Easter Bunny has been in our bedroom!', and was so excited.

I heard the boys run out of their room and found more eggs that Easter Bunny had left. They straightaway came into our room to show us, and Harri was so excited! All week at the childcare at the gym they had been singing a song 'Easter Bunny is coming to town' and he had been singing it for days, waiting for it to happen.

Noah wasn't at all fussed and slept right through all the excitement. He still hasn't woken up enough to see what Easter Bunny brought him. The boys have had fun with his little chick that chirps though.

'Great' Saturday

Yesterday may have been Good Friday, but today is definitely 'Great Saturday' as Noah got to come home from hospital! Aaron said he had a really settled night and woke up happy. The Dr came in and said that it looked like things had settled down, so we could go home once we had got his discharge meds and had bloods taken. We are still going to do a test or two as an out patient to see if anything else shows up.

The boys and I went up to hospital mid morning after we spent the morning cleaning the house and decorating eggs that Grandma had given them.


When we got there Noah was sleepy, but happy. As usual it literally took hours for his discharge meds to come up from pharmacy, so in the meantime the boys had fun playing video games and riding the cars up and down the hall. After the fourth attempt of taking bloods (by three different people) they finally got enough to send off. Just before we were about to leave we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa. Noah was wide awake and happy by then and was giving everyone lots of smiles :)

When we went to say goodbye to our nurse she told us to wait and ran to get something. She came back with a huge chocolate bunny for each of the boys (lucky us as Noah LOVES to share!) and a pack of eggs for Aaron and I as well. It was a lovely surprise. I told the boys we will have to come back into hospital every Easter if we were going to be so spoiled :) It was actually nice being in at Easter time as all the nurses were going around with rabbit ears on and the boys thought it was great.

It is nice to have Noah home, especially as he isn't screaming :) Hopefully we have found a lot of the cause of his irritability, but Aaron and I were both saying that we are expecting we still have a way to go till he is really settled again. In the meantime we will continue to change meds and doses and do some other tests to see if we can work out what is going on with him.

Our Good Friday

It always happens! Whenever I make a comment that we haven't been in hospital for a while with Noah, he ends up going in or getting sick. He has been irritable for a while now - on and off, but lately more on than off. Yesterday morning he woke up and started screaming straight away. The day before he was very irritable at school and I picked him up early. I have been going back to his paediatrician for weeks now saying something is going on with his bowels and tummy - like he had a tummy bug or something as he would settle with a feed, settle for a little while if he had a dirty nappy and was very windy.

Usually I can at least settle him a little bit, but by 10am yesterday he was screaming so much and seemed like he was in total pain that I almost took him straight to hospital. Instead I rang our GP and explained what was going on and the receptionist said to bring him straight down. Our Dr saw him straight away (the screaming helped to jump the queue!) and he said he couldn't see anything straight off, but after talking we thought that it (Noah being so miserable) had gone on long enough and it was time for a visit to hospital to sort him out. He rang the kids ward and let them know that we were on the way. We were lucky that we didn't have to go to A&E, but got to go through admissions instead. Those are the perks of being a (previous) frequent flyer on the kids ward :)

When we got there Noah was still screaming and so stiff. He would hardly sit in his wheelchair. They showed us to our room and I was so happy to see that they were giving us a private room - one that we used to spend a lot of visits in. It is huge and has a fridge, ensuite and view to the courtyard. Noah screamed the place down, while Harri was sooooo excited to see all the fun things to do! Harri hadn't been on the kids ward since he was about 6 months old so he couldn't remember it. It has changed a lot since we were last in and things had really improved with toys and activities for the kids to do. We still knew a lot of the nurses and lots of them popped in as they heard Noah's scream and recognised that it was him!

When we picked up Aaron and Jay from school, Harri was so excited to tell them that Noah was in hospital and that they had 'train tracks' there to play with! Jay is used to hospital and doesn't mind being there, although he does worry about Noah when he is in. Both the boys though have a great time playing on the ward.


About an hour after we got there Noah's paediatrician came in and asked me what was going on. I told him that things were just getting worse and something really wasn't right today as I couldn't stop him crying at all. All of the Drs then came in, as Thursdays in the 'grand round' day - we had about 5 Drs in the room at once all asking me and our Dr lots of questions to try to work out what it was. It reminded me of 'House' where they are all trying to figure it out. After a little while they decided to do a tummy xray, renal ultrasound, blood tests, urine tests and to book in some other tests including a bone scan and CT scan. Hours later Noah finally had a tummy xray and renal ultrasound. The Dr on the ward took us to look at the xray and said that even though he had been having bowel movements he was really blocked up higher up which was probably causing all the pain. I was so happy that they actually found something, but very surprised as I am usually 'onto' his bowels pretty good and feel like I know when he is having trouble emptying properly. Since having Noah I have learned that you can still go, but be constipated and he hadn't been like this for about 4 years so it really surprised me.

The Dr came into see me on her way home and said that this may be most of the problem, but probably not all of it as Noah has been quite irritable on and off for months, so although it will help to clean him out he may still have other things going on, and we will see how he is and decide on which tests to continue with once he was cleaned out.

During the night they ran a liquid through to flush his bowels out and we had a very long night of him being very uncomfortable as his bowels were very bloated. From 3.30am -5.30am I was up to him trying to help him to go and finally after about the fifth dirty nappy he started to settle down. Aaron and the boys came up early this morning and Harri came running in saying 'we couldn't find you Mum!', which I think he meant that it was strange that Noah and I weren't home.

For a month now we had planned on having Good Friday lunch at Mum and Dad's so I took Harri and Jay out, while Aaron stayed in hospital with Noah. Aaron was okay about it as he took up the portable DVD player and planned on having a DVD marathon with Noah. He was lucky as Noah was feeling a lot happier and was really settled all day long. The Drs and nurses were all trying to get us to leave Noah there and to both go out, but there is no way we would leave Noah on his 'own' for very long.

On the way to Mum and Dad's we stopped at Eden and Steph's block to see the progress on the house. It is amazing how fast it is going up! It was great to see Chrish who has been busy helping Eden as much as he can while he is down.

For lunch we had a yummy roast lamb (straight from Mum and Dad's paddock :) and baked vegies. It was such a nice day that we decided to sit out in the sun. Harri wasn't impressed as the sun was in his eyes, so he borrowed one of Mum's hats and sat with the hat over his eyes the whole lunch!

After lunch the kids went on an Easter Egg hunt. They had a great time finding the eggs, but Harri was very stressed as lots of them had melted in the sun!



The boys were very happy with their stash.


Grandma gave each of the kids an Easter present and the boys were so excited about their 'flying monkeys'.

Jay was dying for a ride on the tractor, so he was very excited when he got to help Uncle Eden put it away.

Yummy desserts (care of Dad and Steph) finished off a really nice day. It was quiet without Aaron and Noah, but all day I kept thinking I could hear Noah screaming! It has been going on for too long.

When we got back to the hospital Noah was very happy and settled and feeling a lot better. He was quite serious, and we helped him open up his present from Grandma which was a set of wrist bells. I put them on him and straight away he heard them rattle and he got very excited! He then kept moving his arm which was rattling them and started to get very hyped up! It was nice seeing him smile again. Aaron is staying in hospital with him tonight, so I can catch up on some sleep and hopefully tomorrow he will get to come home. Jay just said it was 'quiet and boring' without Noah home. We may not have to do any more tests, but just continue to change meds until we find the right dose and one to help his seizures that he is having at the moment.