Catch Up With The Girls

This morning Felicity, Bonnie and I went out to Simone's house to have a catch up with Jus before she goes back to Indonesia next week. It was nice to all catch up again as we did the same thing this time, last year when Jus and the kids came home.

Harri was so excited to see Gus and Tilly again. He said when we got home 'Jay likes Gus and so do I'.

It was so cute hearing Sara and Tilly chatting to each other - just like us older girls do! Sara was lucky enough to stay home from school for the day.

We had way too much food as usual, but it was nice to sit down and catch up for a bit.

Kobe has been so good the last week or so. You wouldn't have even known he was there today.

Torture Device?!

When you have a child with a physical disability, you collect a lot of different funny looking equipment. Most of it costs over $1000 - sometimes up to $5000 for a 'simple' piece of equipment that could be put together very cheaply. Lucky for us most of the stuff we have is on loan from places such as St Giles or the Community Equipment Scheme where we pay a yearly fee to hire it.

As Noah has no control at all over any part of his body it is very hard to find good equipment that is really supportive. For kids sitting in wheelchairs all the time a big problem is their bone density - their bones are very brittle and can break easily and their hips can also become dislocated very easily because of the way that they hold their bodies and also the way that they are positioned all the time. To help with bone density and hips it is good for kids like Noah to go in a standing frame. This allows them to do some weight bearing. When Noah was little he had a cute little standing frame with its own tray. It looked great, but didn't work very well as Noah couldn't hold his head up for very long and got very tired in it. This is his physio and his old carer that we used to have that we LOVED. She left when she finished uni and started teaching at a special school.

Since then we have tried to find a standing frame that will suit him better. We have tried supine standers (ones that lay back and tip forward rather than the other way around) but none of them has supported him very much and have left lots of pressure marks in different spots. His physio (still the same one!) kept hassling the Equipment and Technology Library for one that would suit and this is what they came up with - especially for Noah. It looks like a torture device, but is actually just a table that they have padded up and it looks like it may actually work okay. It was actually probably very cheap to make and suits Noah better than one that costs a couple of thousand dollars.


Now we have to find space for it at school. I think school has a fit every time they see us coming in with another piece of equipment for Noah to use, as there is not a lot of space to store everything. Kobe came along to his first physio appointment yesterday. Harri is so used to therapist and Drs appointments etc and now it is Kobe's turn. He was very well behaved and I'm sure in 12 months or so he will be running around St Giles having just as much fun as Harri.

Great Friends

Last night we went to the Porter's home to see our great friends Justine and Declan. It has been two years since we have seen Declan and one year since Jus came over with Gus and Tilly. They have spent the last year in Jakarta, Indonesia teaching at an international school and having lots of amazing adventures.

It was so nice to see them again and especially exciting as Justine is pregnant after trying for a long time. Declan said he saw Aaron heating up Kobe's bottle and thought 'what have we done!?'. I think it just hit him that their life is going to change big time, but I told him that even though may be hard at times, it is for the better. I'm not sure whether he believed me! Justine is a couple of weeks behind Simone. It just seems like there are babies everywhere at the moment!

Tilly was so interested in Kobe and asked to have a hold. She will be a great big sister. She told me that she wants a sister, and Gus wants a brother. She is so cute, and such a poser!

Gus and Tilly have grown up so much. They are great kids. When we arrived Justine said she heard Gus yell 'Jalen - I haven't seen you for soooo long!' and came up and gave him a big hug. Gus very proudly came and told me that he is still a little bit taller than Jay, so we had to get a photo as we did the same thing last time they were home.

The kids had a great time playing together. Harri asked if we could go to 'Tilly's house another day' and Declan and I cracked up laughing and said 'sure you can Harri'. He has no idea how far away Tilly's house really is!!


I asked Jay what he talked about with Gus and he said 'lots of stuff'. I then asked him 'like what'? and he said about Pokemon and other stuff. Typical boy stuff by the sounds of it!! In ten years time I'm sure it will be talk about girls :)

We did the P.M.I thing where you go around the room and say a positive, negative and interesting thing that happened to you this year. My positive thing was going to Sydney as a family in February and having a great holiday together. The minus was that lots of people in my family have had lots of health problems this year and the interesting thing was that we had a baby - sometimes it is a positive, sometimes it is a negative ;) The interesting thing about it was that we really didn't think we were going to have anymore and then changed our mind.

Kobe was great all night - just getting grizzly when he got tired, but fell asleep with a cuddle from Kit. He only had a quick cat nap and then woke up with big smiles.

We were planning on going out for just a short time, but couldn't drag ourselves away once we were there - finally getting home at 10.45pm! I carried Jay into bed from the van as he fell asleep and it made me laugh as he wasn't much heavier than Noah is. He will be tired and cranky tonight. I was thinking it may be a good thing to get Kobe to bed so late as he had a small feed just before 11, but he had two feeds in the night instead of 1!! Not sure what that was about but I'm tired today and hope he decides to pick up his ideas tonight ;)

He Has a Name!

Finally Eden and Steph's son has been named - Lachlan Matthew Triffitt. I love it. It was actually a name that I liked for Harri and Kobe, so I definitely approve :)

Aiden Reid

While I was visiting Eden, Steph and their new baby this morning I took the opportunity to also visit Kate who just had her baby - Aiden a couple of days ago. Kate used to also play with The Mollies and both of us got pregnant and stopped playing at the end of last year. Jasmin was a proud Nan.

It was nice to see Kate and Mick and to see how proud they are of their beautiful new son.

Meeting my Nephew

I know everyone is hanging out for pics of Eden and Steph's baby. Eden rang this morning and said they were waiting for the Dr before they could go home today and to come up and see them before they left. When I got there the Dr was checking over the baby and said everything looks great. Its amazing how much babies change in just a couple of months as Kobe just seems so big now and is doing so much - especially when you see a tiny newborn again.

There was lots of discussion about names when I got there, but he still hasn't been named. Steph said that by this afternoon they should have decided.

Eden and Steph seem very happy and relaxed. Even though Noah was full on as a baby, I remember how much more relaxed you are with your second one. Steph even asked Eden to bring in her knitting so she could knit while she was waiting to be discharged.

It was nice to meet my newest Nephew. He was very placid and wide awake at times just looking around. Hopefully he will stay that way when he gets home and wakes up a bit :)

Tagged by Hannah

These people that have private blogs get me every time! I always forget to check their blogs as the blog roll doesn't let me know when they have updated their blog. Today I thought I'd better check out their blogs and Hannah had tagged me to answer a few questions so here goes:

10 Years Ago
Aaron and I had been married for almost 3 years and I was in my first year out of uni - teaching three different classes in the one year. I was lucky enough to get a teaching position straight out of uni, which was also in town. It was only for first term though, but I didn't mind as I was just happy to have something and close to home. My first class was at Youngtown Primary on a Kindergarten. I was then lucky to be able to stay on at the same school for second term as a teacher went on long service leave. During second term I taught her Prep class, and then in third term I was offered a position at Port Dalrymple School at George Town - teaching a Kinder again. I loved teaching and actually enjoyed the different experiences on the three different classes that I taught that year. In each class I had a child with special needs.

This is the class I taught during second term - the funny thing is now Aaron is teaching them all as they now go to Kings Meadows High!! If I ever see any of them they tell me they still remember how to count to ten in Japanese - at least I taught them something :)

5 Years Ago
Jalen was almost 4 years old and Noah was 2. I was still adjusting to life with Noah and we had already had a lot of admissions into hospital, trips to Drs, and appointments with therapists. I had put on a LOT of weight - probably from lots of emotional eating. We were living in Ellison Street, Newstead and I still had the same great friends that I had since Kinder and are still friends with today :)

Bec and I

Pip and I

5 Months Ago
I was 5 months pregnant with Kobe and so excited that Bec had just given birth to Annie.

5 Things On My 'To Do' List Tomorrow

Go to the gym to do 'Pump' class

Try out my new slow cooker (thanks for the inspiration Anna, Toni and Paige!)
Ring Mum in Sydney
Possibly take Jalen and Harri swimming (if I can brave the cold weather)
Get music time ready for Primary on Sunday

5 Bad Habits

Also using my dryer too much
Leaving clothes on the bedroom floor
Spending too much time on the computer (especially blogging!)
Snacking on junk food at night
Watching Home and Away every night

5 Places I Have Lived
Dunorlan, Tasmania
Portland, Oregon, USA
Rexburg, Idaho, USA
Mowbray, Tasmania
Newstead, Tasmania

5 Things People May Not Know About Me

1. I used to want to be a Travel Consultant
2. I lived in the USA for 13 months and went to College (Uni) there for a year
3. I don't think I really want to teach again, but would prefer to be a Teacher's Aide - particularly for special needs kids (don't want the responsibility of teaching, but love working in schools).
4. I used to love working with my cousin Corom who has Autism, and said I would love to have a child with special needs (be careful what you wish for ;) .
5. I LOVE watching reality TV shows - Big Brother, Survivor, Australian Idol, So You Think You Can Dance , Amazing Race etc.

5 People I Tag (if you can be bothered)
Anna
Simone
Paige
Toni and
Penny

6 week check

Today Bec and Annie came to visit and while they were here the Child Health Nurse also came to do Kobe's 6 week check - a week overdue. Bec and Annie live close by, so they also see the same Child Health Nurse, so she was very happy to see them as well. We took the opportunity to get Annie weighed at the same time.

Bec and I were telling the nurse that we went to Kindergarten together and how it could be very possible that Kobe and Annie will also go to Kinder together. I was saying to Bec that she will be dropping off Annie at school, dragging her other three kids behind her and I will be dropping off Kobe and going home to a nice quiet house, with no kids at home as they will all be at school :)

Everyone at school always says that Kobe is 'so tiny', but really he is a very chubby baby! He is now almost 6 kg and between the 75th and 90th percentiles for his length, weight and head circumference. Don't you just love all those rolls!

Aaron the 'Anti' Blogger (try hard blogger!)

Aaron calls himself the 'anti' blogger. He thinks that blogs aren't cool, but deep down he knows that they are and that all cool people have a blog, which is why he has decided to start one. He is at work and just sent me the link to it, so obviously he is working hard!! ;)
Anyway - if you feel like a laugh now and then and want to check it out - click here.

Birthday Weekend

A couple of weeks ago Jalen was invited to go and spend the weekend at his friend - Brayden's shack at Bicheno (East Coast of Tassie). This morning at school his Mum had put some photos from the trip in Jalen's tub. It was nice to see what they got up to. It was Brayden's 9th birthday and his Mum said all he wanted to do for his birthday was go to the shack and spend the weekend with Jay. Jalen hasn't been anywhere except for Brayden's house for one night and also Mum and Dad's house for a night, so we weren't sure how he would go being so far from home for two nights.

He was very excited to go and had a great time. All weekend the boys played on their nintendo DS' together.

They also had lots of fun fishing, and exploring Bicheno.



We rang him each day and he was having lots of fun, but when he got home he became very quiet when we asked him if he missed us. He said he had fun but still missed us and lots of tears welled up in his eyes. We talked to him about it and he said that he would like to go again, but really missed all of us. Harri really missed him too - crying all weekend saying he wanted Jay to come home from Brayden's house. I'm sure in a few years time they will be happy to have time away from each other.

Singing Hats

My job at church is to teach the kids from 3-12 years the songs from the children's songbook. Each month we have a different theme that we work on and in October we present an hour long presentation to the whole congregation which includes songs we have learnt throughout the year. It can get very boring singing the same songs over and over again, so I've been trying to think of different, fun ways to get the kids enthusiastic.

Today I did a winter theme and had lots of sytrofoam 'snow' all around. Because there was 'snow' I dressed up in all my snow gear, including my beanie. I told the kids that since I had to look silly in my beanie then they were all going to be wearing some funny hats too.

Some of the snow was coloured and each colour represented a different song. A child would come up and find a coloured piece of snow to choose which song we would sing. I told the kids I was going to be watching for someone who was really trying their best during the song. All of the kids sang great as they wanted to be able to choose a hat. When I chose the child they could either wear the hat themselves, or put it on someone else. It was hilarious seeing Paul and Merle in a sombrero and clown wig!! The kids thought it was great. They are great sports.

It was heaps of fun and the kids had a great time wearing all the different hats. Harri was dying to put on the Pirate hat, and 'sang' so loud during one song, but I don't think he even knew any of the words - he just mumbled along with the tune.

60 Years Strong

Monday was Merilyn's 60th birthday. Tonight lots of her family and friends got together at the Wheeler's to help her celebrate it. This year is also the 60th Anniversary of Holden cars, so obviously 1948 was a big year ;)


Aaron 'kindly' volunteered to stay home with Noah (we won't mention that Hawthorn was playing tonight and it was being shown on TV!), so Jay, Harri, Kobe and I went and enjoyed the night - eating and socialising.

Kobe was very well behaved and slept for a little while and then enjoyed cuddles from lots of different people. It is nice now that he is a lot more settled at night.

I think Simone just realised what she has gotten herself into with another baby on the way very soon!

After the yummy BBQ tea, Collette the games girl kept us entertained with quizzes and games.

I was on the winning team - called the JJ's, SS and LL's as we had Jessica and Joe, Scott and Simone, and Lisa (Prebble) and Lisa (me). It was lucky we had Scott and Lisa - the quiz masters, who knew the answer to just about everything from sporting questions to politics. I very sadly did not contribute anything to my team except for one answer that I knew which was the Cyclone Tracey happened in 1974 (an excellent year as it was the year that Simone and I were born, so both of us knew that!!).

Aaron would have come in very handy with all the sport questions we were given as he always knows useless crap like that! ;) I think he should have come as we got home to a lot of yelling at the TV.

It was a nice night and the boys had fun hanging out with all the kids. I missed out on getting a photo of Merilyn in her car costume that she was wearing at the beginning of the night. I'm sure one of the other bloggers there won't let us down and will have a photo of it on their blog.

A Hot Date!

Yesterday I got a phone call from Gillian saying that they weren't doing anything that night until 8pm and were coming over to babysit, so that Aaron and I could have a couple of hours on our own. I laughed and told her she really didn't know what she was getting herself in for, and she said she didn't mind and that they were coming over and we just had to tell her a time.

I emailed Aaron at work and told him that we were going to go on a hot date, and asked him where he wanted to go. I gave him three suggestions - Thai, Mexican or Greek, all of which he flatly turned down (party pooper!). I then gave him the other option which I knew he would go for - the buffet at the Casino. Aaron is better than when I first met him, but he is pretty happy just with meat and three vegies. He tells me he likes going there for the dessert buffet, which I have to admit is very nice.

Poor Gillian and Jade had to put up with the two boys playing with their Stack Cups and the Wii all night.

Its actually very strange going out on our own as it doesn't happen very often, but it was nice. I find it really hard to relax though and find myself eating really fast even though we have a certain amount of time. Usually we are rushing to eat before either Noah or Kobe starts crying or rushing as we have to give the next feed or meds. We did have to dash home as Noah was overdue for his meds by half and hour and when we walked in they had everything under control (as much as it could be anyway!). It was good practice for them before Sam and Clare's little one arrives in January.

Speed Stacks

After seeing Jalen last week in assembly doing the speed stacks with his class, we decided to buy the boys a set each. Thanks to Lisa who told me they were on sale at Toyworld (via her blog). All week the boys have been watching the DVD that comes with the set, and spending hours and hours playing with them.

I personally think I would get bored with it, but Jay loves trying to beat his personal best. He is getting really good at it.

Settling Down

They say (not sure who 'they' are!) that babies really start to settle down at about 6 weeks. With Jalen I hung out for that 6 week mark - until he was 6 months old, when he finally did settle down!! With Noah I am still waiting :) Harri wasn't too bad as a baby - I can't really remember much about Harri as baby except that he got a lot of wind and slept through from 3 weeks old (we were very busy with Noah when Harri was born).

Kobe has been quite unsettled the last couple of weeks - especially at night. He vomits a lot and it seems to be worse at night as he would vomit, swallow and gulp it back down and crying out in pain. Often when he is screaming you can hear it coming up and him gulping it back down, continuously. Jalen had really bad reflux as a baby, so I knew that Kobe had reflux and was getting pain from it. We tried all the reflux tricks - putting his cot on an angle, thickening his feeds, feeding him as upright as possible and leaving him upright after feeds, and although it helped him to keep it down more he was still bringing it up, gulping it back down and screaming in pain.

I went to the Dr last week to talk to him about it and he agreed to let him try an antacid medication for 3 days to see if that helped. Boy did it help! The first night we gave it he was a new boy!!! So much more happy and settled and not screaming all night in pain. Now when he cries it is more of a 'normal' baby cry - like he is hungry or tired etc, not that awful high pitched scream when something isn't right. He is even happy to sit on our knee for periods of time and just sit - without screaming constantly. Lucky for me as I am always texting away, and that gets tricky when you are trying to rock a screaming baby! :)

He was 6 weeks old yesterday and things really are settling down - not to say that he isn't a normal baby where he has his episodes of crying, but now it is a lot more manageable. He now spends more time 'playing' with his toys. His favourites are the Pooh Bear hanging toys which he will just sit and stare at and smile and talk to for ages. It's so cute to watch.

Getting into Practice

Yesterday we went to Devonport and dropped into see Becky, Jared and Kels. Kels wasn't sure what to make of it all - especially when Kobe decided he had enough and was tired and was going to start crying. Good practice for Becky - I may have to drop him off a few times before January comes and their new baby arrives, just in case she has forgotten what it's all about ;)