Work

It has been many years since I was in paid work. For nearly 10 years now I have been a full time mum. When I was about 4 months pregnant with Steven I was working in a plant nursery and had to stop as i was fainting all the time from the heat in the glasshouses so was no use to them really. Then when Liam was little I went back there to work just on Saturdays for a little while. I totally love being a full time mum...full time single mum wasn't in the plan of things but turned out that way. Once Liam started school I really enjoyed having some 'me' time. While work was questioned at that time I was unable to cope with working and then coming home to be the best mum I could. Now that the boys are older and Steven especially is sleeping right through the night and alot easier to deal with, now is the right time for me to work. At the end of last year I got a call from the kindy that both the boys went to and got asked if I was keen to do some hours with a child. The following week I had an interview and everything was all go. At the start of this term I started working with 2 kids as an ESW(Education Support Worker). I have totally enjoyed my first term of working as an ESW and look forward to next term where I will have more hours with more kids. Both my boys had ESW's when they were at kindy. Steven because of his autism and global developmental delay. He needed lots of support to get him interacting with the other kids and help with his speech. Liam went to kindy a very shy boy who followed the teachers around not wanting anything to do with the kids. At home once Liam started moving he was picked on by Steven and I think this is why he didn't interact with the kids at kindy and he thought that all kids would hurt him, so he needed support to help him get over that and also with gross motor skills. For the most part they both had the same ESW, for a little while Liam had a different one to who Steven had had. With out this support the boys would have struggled through kindy(well Steven not so much I'm sure he would have been more than happy to have been left to play on his own). I believe kindy and the play that the kids do there is very important and if kids need extra support it does make a HUGE difference. Now that I'm an ESW and giving this support to kids I hope I can make a difference like what was made to Steven and Liam. I honestly dont know how parents work full time and then come home and be parents....I dint have alot of hours at the moment but there are some days where I'm so ready for bed come 7pm. The boys have had to get use to getting organised and leaving for school earlier and also for me to leave school earlier than I use to. I use to always go to each of their classrooms look at their work and talk with the teachers if there was anything needed talking about and leave at 9 when the bell went, now I need to leave at 8.35ish to be at work on time(which lucky is just on the other side of town) next term I'm going to try and drop them off in the mornings without me getting out of the car and going into the class rooms. While it seems easy enough to do Steven and change don't go together very well, so its all about baby steps. All in all working is great I love what I do and the kids that I'm working with each with their own little challenge and I love being back at the kindy the boys went to. Bring on term 2 with more work.

Liam turns 7....

I know this post is way late but wanted to share some photos of my baby growing up. I really can not belive that he is 7 already. He is the baby in his classroom at school and was the last one to turn 7, most of them turned 7 at the end of last year. He is a very smart little boy but has attitude sometimes that is not wanted. He is caring and very adjusting to Stevens needs(most of the time) who has a big heart, fun and loving boy. Here are a some of my favourite random photos of Liam to celebrate another year, and I look forward to the next year to make more fun and happy memories.
Dont you just love that grin

Liam turns 3

This is such a Liam look

Clean up help for his 4th birthday cake

Liam turns 5.....icing muffins for kindy friends

Last day of kindy...wow it doesnt seem that long ago when he was 5

I just love this photo

Liam being his usual happy silly self

Must catch up

I have so many things I want to blog about but whenever I come to sit and blog I just cant be bothered. I still haven't posted photos of my 365project finished from last year, or my Daily December album I did for the first time last year. Also this year I have started project life but this year I'm more relaxed about it and if i don't get a photo then no stressing about it. Liam has his 7th birthday last week, my baby is 7 I really don't know where the time/years have gone he is growing too fast. Also this year a change for all of us is that I have started work, its not a full on 8 hours per day job and i guess you can call it full time part time work. Its within school hours and school terms other than one week at the end of term 4 and a week at the start of term 1, but what more could I ask for. I must say I take my hat of to those mums who work a full day 5 days a week and then come home and be a mum as well. Right off to enjoy this lovely summers day and get some washing on the line and spray some weeds, the boys are out enjoying jumping on the tramp while its still shaded from the sun. I will be back again this week with catch ups

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Mini Album

Liams tonsillitis mini album is now finished.....after talking to mum yesterday and how little motivation I have got to do scrapbooking at that moment decide its best to focus on one project at a time. So I thought I would start with this mini album which I have had made up for a few weeks now. So here is what ihave been doing in between playing with boys and cleaning and cooking today. Yesterday I printed off all the journalling so that was done and out of the way. I wanted this to be a simple album to just record the toulbe with Liam's tonsils that we had so its just a basic photo, journalling and some mini titles on most pages.
I dont really like the cover anymore but this was done awhile ago when I made the album up.

the rash from the first lot of antibiotics

The mini chemist of antibiotics liam had, which I forgot to put the ones after his op on thie list...bummer might have to pull that bit off and re do it.

The cost of all his doctors visits.

This lot of journalling was about the doctor who sent us home with no antibitoics for us to only come back later that day when liam got worse and then they tried to charge us for the doctors visit again.

The first page is about seeing the specialist and told she would have him done in about 4 weeks and then the more waiting is about getting the letter that we may have to wait 3 more month and about Liam getting tonsillitis while on antibiotics.

Finally is aobut getting Liams op date, that was a good day

Because I had so much I wanted to write about from his op day, I made a little pocket for about 6 journallling cards to slide into.

for the pre op post op and lure photos they are what liam wanted to have showing on the last couple of pages.

Journalling bout the day.

ON the back of the journalling cards I put some of the other photos from the week of his op on them so that they were still included in the album.

So there is one scrapbooking project finished and it feels nice ot have it done. Will be back again soon with another finished project to show.

Liams visit to hospital

Warning this is very long post...again for my record of journalling for future pages.

The night before Liams op I thought it would take awhile for him to go to sleep as all day he had been asking me lots of questions about it. But he didnt fuss much at all when it came to bed time and went to sleep lying across his bed with Blue Piggy close by.

We had a early start with Liam not being allowed to eat after 7am, so i set 3 alarm clocks, one for 6am, 6.10 and 6.15am(yip you did read that right 3 one in Liams room and the one in mine and the one on my mobile phone in my room) jsut to make sure there was at least one that woke me up. As it turned out I didnt need any of them as I didnt have a very good night sleep and was awake on and off from 2am and by 5.30 i was wide awake so got up turned the computer on and did some interneting for a little bit before Liam woke up at 5.52am. Since we were up early I thought I would get a photo of the sun rise, it was a very bright yellow, although it doesnt show very well up on this photo...but proof that I can get up before the sun if i have to,lol.

Stevne went down to his dads at about 8.30 as Liam was getting hungry(already)and Stevne was wanting to eat, so we took him down there so that I could get liam to focus on somethign other than his hungry tummy. Before going to the hospital we went over to the warehouse to buy the dvd Up for the boys and get some up& go drinks for liam for after the op. Mum took us up to the hospital and we got there with lots of time to spare. Waited in the car for about 15 mintues before going up....LIam asked all his questions over while we waited. It didnt take to long from when we arrived in the waiting room till Liams name was called out by the nurse. We went into a small room of the next waiting area. The nurse checked that all the details were correct, weight Liam and then gave him some pamol. Put on his name bracelet and also an extra red one to say he is allergic to Augmentin.

Got him a gown to put on and then put cream to numb his skin with plaster over the top of it.

Then we had to wait for the anaesthetist and doctor to come and talk about the operationa nd what was going to happen. Between the nurse doing her bits and pieces and talking to the doctor Liam had me worried for a while. ONce the nurse had put the cream on he went very quiet, Im sure it was just his nerves getting the better of him but he curled up into me and almost went to sleep. He started to get the shakes in his hands and started to sweat, I said to mum he looks like how i feel jsut before im going to faint. We were told we could move out into the waitnig area so Liam could play with the toys, but he honestly wasnt in the mood for it and was still very cuddly with me. After about 15 mintues the anaesthetist and doctor talked with us and then another nurse came in and check Liams details once more before taking us to the operating theatre. By this stage Liam was chatty again and talking away to everyone. He was very brave and doing so well when we walked into the operation theatre, I was a little nervous when walking into a room with about 6 people in there. They were all very friendly and said hello to Liam. We lifted him up onto the bed and put the blanket onto him and then it was explained to him about the mask to help him go to sleep and he was fine with it all. I took his glasses off and they put the mask onto his face, he took one breath and then he started to scream. Right up to this point I had told myself I would not cry, well that jsut went out the window and he was not keen for this mask business at all. So they asked if it was okay with me for them to jsut hold it on and get it over with, to which i agreed to. I can tell you now its hard to see this happening and when he was looking up at me with those tears in his eyes I pretty much got tears in my eyes as well. I was told that this is for his own good and it needs to be done with having so much tonsillitis in such a short time and that once he woke up he wont remember this happening, and I know they are right I have told myself this over and over but it still hard to see your own child in that state. Once he was asleep I gave him a kiss and told him I loved him and got shown back to the waiting room. It was about an hour before a nurse came out and called me in, mum was able to come in also and wait in a different part of the recovery area. He was so anrgy looking when i saw him and in alot of pain. They had given him quite a bit of different pain relief and asked if I was happy for him to have morphine as he was still in a lot of pain. He does in and out of sleep while watching inspector gaget on a portable dvd player. After about half an hour he asked if he could have some food and then burst into tears. So off down to the wards we went so he could have an iceblock and some jelly. We were now here for 4 hours but with kidzone on the tv Liam was more than happy to lie in bed sipping away at his water. Mum went down tot he chemist and got liam lot of meds for him before it closed. At about 6pm the doctor came in and told us that the operation was straight forward, that Liam had small tonsils but they were very scared for his age. 6.30pm and we could go home, gave him some pamol before we left and then headed home.


Plaster where the lure was in

Once home Liam had his next lot of pain meds at 10.30pm then I headed of to bed with Liam in my bed so I could keep and eye on him we both slept very well but didnt wake at 2.30am wehn he needed more meds, so by 7.30 when we did wake he was quite sore. I felt quite bad about it but gave him meds and the difflam spray which helped alot. That morning he had a 2hr sleep on my bed.

I drew up a timetable so I knew which meds I was giving him and at what time. For the next couple of days it was meds every 4 hours and spray every couple of hours or when needed. This photo is Liam who fell asleep on his bed after not taking his meds and he was in pain I could tell but he wouldnt take it and went to sleep like this after crying...I just let him sleep for a couple of hours and then woke him at 9.30pm. He asked for the spray as well so he was hurting bad by this stage, I set alarm to make sure I woke in 4 hours.

Saturday night was Liams first night of no pain meds after 7.30pm which was great and we both had a very good sleep.

He has had a couple lots of meds today but not much and is starting to eat a bit more and drink lots more as well. I think his jaw is giving him more grief than his throat at the moment but we were told that was to be expected, but he is on the mend and is dealing with it alot better than I thought he would. Steven is a bit out of sorts with Liam having to keep quite for a few weeks and Steven missing his trampoline buddy but slowly accepting thats jsut the way things are at the moment. So now we look forward to a year with a healthier Liam.

Will be getting photos developed tomorrow to get a mini album made so watch this space. Also I will be back soon with a gerneal post about whats been happening around here, with photos of my project life kit some photos of my Daily December album and photos of 365 project that I did last year.

PS. Spell check isnt working and because its late im sure there is more than one mistake, I will come back tomorrow to see if i can get spell check to work...so sorry for all the mistakes

this little hippo

or this little piggy as he is called, has gone missing. Before I get to much into this post I will warn you its long...mainly because it will be my journalling for a couple of layouts i want to do but don't know when I will do them so want to have the journalling recorded.

A couple of years ago at the special children Xmas party Steven got this big yellow hippo(those of you who follow my blog will know who i mean and have seen many photos of this big yellow hippo who is called Piggy). Liam had a small cute grey hippo which he adopted as his a couple of years ago before Piggy came along. Liam then started to call his hippo little piggy(of course cause what else would you call a hippo). Little Piggy has been with us since Steven was 9months old from his first visit to Auckland Zoo.

Little Piggy did lots of things with Liam and helped to get Liam to adjust when he had to have his eye patched not long after starting afternoon kindy and getting glasses. Every day before Liam got his patch Little Piggy would have his eye patched first and a couple of times went along with kindy to show the teachers that they both patched their eyes. There were a couple of days where Little Piggy was naughty at putting his patch on and Liam decided that he had to wear that patch for longer,lol.

There were days that Steven let Liam borrow Piggy for the day which Liam really enjoyed.

And Liam would also take some of his soft toy friends into my bed and line them up with his baby blanket i made him to tuck them in.


This is the last photo of Little Piggy, which was taken on Xmas day last year out side the boys dads house....Liam had gone to sleep in the car on the way home from our Xmas day at my mums holding onto Little Piggy.

The boys were at their dads for a week but Little Piggy never came home. Not sure what happened and where Little Piggy went but we had a few night of tears once Liam was home. He wanted to take Little Piggy to the hospital with him when he got his tonsils out...so we had two weeks to either find Little Piggy or buy a new Piggy. I started my search for a new Piggy......little did i know that not many shops have hippo toys. I thought that the warehouse was bound to have something suitable, but nope not a single hippo in site...so as last resort on the Friday before Liam's op we went into town and got a couple more books bout hospital out of the library and then went to Love to Learn to see what they had in the way of soft toys....we walked in and Liam saw a little blue hippo, he was muched loved and adopted by Liam straight away. So this is Liam new friend Blue Piggy....I personally liked Little Piggy better but Blue Piggy is cute and Liam loves him and that's what matters.

Tomorrow I will post about Liam and Blue Piggy's visit to the Hospital

Question and answer time.......

from Rochelle's blog

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Put my trust in someone who isnt family to care for Steven after school once a week every week(this is a big thing for me to do)...after school care and he totally loved it.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I dont make any that way I dont get annoyed when I dont fillful them

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Friends had babies

4. Did anyone close to you die?
no

5. What countries did you visit?
Ummm....New Zealand

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Would love for the seperation settlement to be finalised and all over and done with. Also fingers crossed that 2010 will have work for me.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
lots of dates, birthdays and special events

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I really dont know, I guess maybe letting go of the boys a bit more, I find it very hard to do

9. What was your biggest failure?
Dont think I had any, nothing come to mind

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had swine flu, dont recommend it to anyone, was a very long hard week

11. What was the best thing you bought?
New camera

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?


13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
No one

14. Where did most of your money go?
Nothing new and big jsut the standard rent, car cost, food and bills

15. What did you get really excited about?
How well Liam is doing at school, he is above his level and does really well. Also Steven had a good year at school and in the last 6months the change in his mid year and end of year report was fantastic

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Stay by Ronan Keating

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? happier

– thinner or fatter? bit fatter but im told thats not a bad thing as im to skinny,lol...just need to get rid of the little jelly belly I have

– richer or poorer? much the same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
exercise

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stressing bout the little stuff that doesnt really need stressing over

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Out at my parents place with my sister and brother and their kids and my aunty...was a lovely day and the kids had soooo much fun

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
Love is SO OVERATED...lol but that just my opinion of course

22. What was your favourite TV program?
I watch too much tv but I do enjoy the masterchef and cooking programmes alot

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
nah

24. What was the best book you read?
DOnt really read books much and havent picked one up for a long time

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Umm.. pass

26. What did you want and get?
new camera

27. What did you want and not get?
Settlement...getting closer

28. What was your favourite film of this year?
pass

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
DInt do anything special, just another day, I was 31

30. What’s one thing that would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Settlement....lol

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Comfort all the way,lol....although I would liek to be able to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, maybe this year

32. What kept you sane?
Every second weekend and listening to music

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
oh there to many lol....I do fancy Robbie Williams and Ronan Keating

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
I’m not a big political person

35. Who did you miss?
My gran.....she would be so proud of my boys but especially her special boy Steven and how far he has come and how well he is coping at school. Very much miss her phone calls and talk about autism and ways to get around what Steven does
...but I think she be watching down and could see that we are all well

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Havent met anyone new

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
LIfe is short and we need to make sure we make the most of it, every day is a good day. Gran always told me when things were tough to always remember that there is someone out there who has is tougher than you.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
not sure...might get back to you on that one

Thought I would fit one more post in before we get to the end of 2009. It has been a busy few weeks. In my last post Liam was going to get his tonsils out within the month but on week four we got a letter saying it would be up to 3months before he gets them out. I was less than impressed about it and to top it off that same day he came home from school with a temp of 38. I got to school a bit earlier than normal and the teacher told me he had said he wasn't feeling very well. So i gave him some pamol and kept an eye on his temp, it did come down a bit but it wasn't until 7ish that night that he told me he had a sore throat. Sure enough he had a red throat but not too bad. During the night his temp got up to 38.4 so i got out cold cloths to cool him down and gave him pamol every 4hours. First thing the next morning made appointment with doctors as his throat was looking alot worse. The thing that annoyed me most about all of it was that he was on antibiotics and still got tonsillitis, makes you wonder what good the antibiotics are doing. Took the letter with me to ask if there was anything that could be done to speed things up as this endless tonsillitis isn't going away in any hurry. Doctor just gave 3months worth of antibiotics and said at least when he gets his op its done at a private hospital. So more antibiotics and pamol and off home we went, Liam had the rest of the week off school and we were backa t the doctors the next day as he was still get high temps and his throat was looking worse. Saw a different doctor this time who is really good she gave him a 10 day course of penicillin and sent another referral asking for Liam to be seen sooner rather than later. 21st December I get call form the hospital asking if Liam can make it on the 13th of January...YAY. Yes we will be there, it was so good to finally get a date. Liam of course and totally understandable is nervous and has lots of questions. I too am nervous but know its for the best to make him health. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the going to sleep bit. I have done this many of time with Steven when he has had to have CT scan, dental work done and have had to hold him down while they put the gas mask on him to make him sleep, and every time I have cried, more so the first time as they never told me he would fight it. I'm hoping Liam wont fight it. Mum is taking us up so that i can be in the back with Liam for the trip home, Steven will spend the day with his dad. We will have an early start as it is an afternoon appointment and Liam is not allowed to eat after 7am. So we will get up early and have breakfast and then Steven will go down to his dads so that he can eat and drink without Liam wanting to. I will fast with Liam and then we will head off to be at the hospital at 12.30.

With he good news of Liam's op happening in 2010 I also have some great news for myself and think 2010 is going to be a good year. I had a phone call for the local kindy that both boys went to, asking if i was keen on some work there. Of course I said yes and on the 22nd December I had interview with a couple of ladies so fingers crossed all went well and next year I will have some part time work as an ESW(Educational Support Worker). Both my boys had a ESW work with them while they were at kindy. Steven had one pretty much his whole time at kindy. Liam started kindy without one but after a couple of terms and not much interaction with anyone other than the teachers and any parent help adults, we pushed for a few hours for Liam to help him socialise with the kids. A few months after he moved to morning kindy he didn't need his ESW. Im very excited and hope it all goes well and that I can give back what my boys ESW gave to them. It will be different to be on the working side of it all rather than the parent but I'm up for the challenge. The best thing about this job it that its all within school hours and term time which is perfect.

Right if you still here and haven't been scared away by all the writing I have a few Xmas to share with you.
Santa has visited and the boys were up nice and early to see what he left

I love this photo of Steven clowning around trying to avoid getting his photo taken, he has such an amazing smile, hes so gorgeous.

After lunch, presents and then pudding the water slide was pulled out for the kids and there were all out there for some time and had so much fun. Does Liam look alot like Steven without his glasses on.


Its not often these days that either of the boys go to sleep in the car, I think if we had another 10minutes drive Steven would have been asleep too. But for Liam it was to much effort to not go to sleep.


PLease excuse any mistakes this was posted at 12.40am Monday...lol

Tonsils are coiming out

Opps its been a while since posting on here so thought I would give an update on Liam's tonsils. He is now on the waiting list for a tonsillectomy. We saw the specialist ont he 9th of this month and she said she will put a rush on for him to be done in the next month, while I would not rather him not have the op and he is a bit nervous bout the whole going to sleep and pain he has had tonsillitis 6 times in 11 weeks so something more than just antibiotics needed to be done to get this sorted, in that time he has had nearly 3 weeks off school also so time to do more. Strep also showed on swabs taken the last few times he had tonsils. I was asked if Liam breathes through his mouth alot and while during the day I can honestly say I have never noticed it but at night I know he does as there if often a wet patch on his pillow where he has been lying with his mouth wide open, he also snores a bit but not too much. While he is under for his tonsillectomy they will look at his adenoids to see if they need to be removed as well. I have talked to Liam about what will happen to prepare him for the op and he seems okay bout it, although not to sure bout the mask to make him go to sleep. He did read through the pamhplet we were given and did like that he needs to have at least a week off school. So now Liam is on a 3 week course of antibiotics and I need to go to the doctors to get more if he has not been in for his op when he finishes this lot, he also has some alanase nasal spray which he has to have one spray into each nostril twice a day(much to his delight I can tell you that much)...there were a few tears for the first few days but he is really good about it now and will even remind me after school to do his spray. The specialist look up Liam's nose and said it was quite swollen which is why he is on the spray. For those of you who know Liam he often would climb into my bed at some stage during the night and I tried him with a night light to keep him in his room but still I would often wake and wonder how long he had been there for, since starting the spray a few days in he is now sleeping in his bed all night every night WITHOUT his night light on...so I'm guessing he was having a bit of trouble with his breathing at night before hand.He has also started on some Inner health probioticpowder for kids as he was getting some very upset tummy pains and I was told that this would help him. Due to all the antibiotics he has been on that has cause the tummy pains. So all in all we will be glad once the tonsils are gone and we can start 2010 with a healthy Liam.

I cant believe we are nearly at the end of November already, Christmas has come very quickly this year. Tanya and I are off to Manukau with mum on Friday for a day of Xmas shopping( I only have 3 more presents to buy then im all done), Cody has
his 2year old pixi photo. In the first couple of weeks of December a couple of friends and I will head out to mums to see her decorated house. We have done this every year for a few years now. On the 12th of December we have our big extended family Xmas out at mums this year. The 15th is prize giving at school for the boys and then the 16th is last day of school for 2009. Next year Steven has the same teacher, Mr White that he had this year and I'm over the moon about that. Steven has totally enjoyed his teacher this year and both his teacher and i talked with the Principal about Steven having him again next year. Every year it takes so long for Steven to adjust to a new teacher and for him and the teacher to understand each other so him having Mr White again next year comforting for me to know that he can get straight into teaching Steven. I was told who Liam is most likely to be having but it wasn't 100%, but if he does have who I was told then I will be very very happy with that as I know she is a great teacher and Liam will do well with her. There will be class room lists for next year going home with the kids before the end of term which will be good as last year the kids didn't know who there teacher was going to be till the last day of school. I cant believe Steven will be Year 5 and Liam will be Year 3 already next year...It doesn't seem that long ago that I was taking Liam to school for his 1st day.

The boys are off to their dads for dinner tonight and Liam is very excited that he will get to see Nana and poppa(on his dads side) for the first time in a few years. I actually cant remember if it was 2008 or 2007 when the boys last saw them as they have been living in America, but they are back in New Zealand to stay now and are staying with Kevin for a few weeks. Steven will be happy to see them again but I think for him its just a change in his routine that he cant cope with and I hope Nana and poppa don't take offence if Steven is not welcoming of them....Liam on the other hand is very excited that going to dads today means he gets to see Nana and Poppa.

Well I will go and carry on will some Xmas baking. I have pulled all my Xmas tree and decorations out and I'm so tempted to put them up now but will wait till the weekend. Do you all wait for the 1st of December to put your tree up or do you put it up whenever you want?

We have

an appointment on Monday for Liam with the ENT specialist. Be interesting to see what she has to say and whether the tonsilis will come out and what sort of waiting list there is before he can get them out.

Liam

is sick again...tonsillitis for the 5th time in 8 weeks...but as a bonus because the doctor wrote it down as a follow up visit because we have been so often for the same thing its now only $21 per visit instead of $25. We have had letter from the super clinic stating 'You have been referred to the CMDHB) Department of ENT for an outpatient assessment. In order to treat patients in a timely manner CMDHB(Counties-Manukau District Health Board) has engaged a number of specially trained general practitioners who have been approved by the ENT(Ear Nose and Throat) Department to provide this service in their own practices. Your referral has been allocated to a doctor in your local area. The GP will contact you with an appointment. There will be no charge for this service. Following treatment you will be returned to the care of your General Practitioner(family Doctor). We look forward to assisting you.' So now we just wait for that call for our appointment, hears hoping it wont be too far away. Other wise we are all doing well, Liam got a certificate at assembly for writing a detailed recount of his holiday. We are starting to walk up to school more often now that the weather is getting nicer. Steven has decided he doesn't want to continue to go to after school kids care, which I'm fine with as it was something different for him to do but to do for only as long as he enjoyed it. There have been a few things that have happened there and I think this is why he has decided not to go. I'm going to take the boys to athletics every Wednesday evening, it goes for an hour which is nice for them to get out and have some after school fun. I think(hope) they will enjoy it. Term 1 I want to get them doing swimming lessons to give them more confidence in the water. I don't expect them to be great swimmers but would like them to be able to enjoy the water. I have been working on a few Kaisercraft advent calendars for the boys, just waiting on paper to arrive so I can get the draws covered and decorated, have a few other Xmas gift ideas I need to get started on and sorted. Being the last term of the year there are teacher gifts to sort out also and I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do this year. Then there is sorting out teachers for next year and going in to let them know my thoughts for Steven mainly, I think Liam will cope with any teacher, I would like him to have the teacher Stevne had last year and for Steven to have his teacher he has this year again next year but you know how it goes we don't always get what we want. Right off to sort some dinner out.

Challenge from Mandys blog

So I thought I would be brave and do this challenge from Mandys blog, so here is most not so good photo of me which i took when I had swine flu and was up for a little while to eat before falling back into bed again.

And one I'm happy with....new hair cut which I was really happy with the end result and love having shorter hair.

So there you go Mandy the good and the bad, lol

Steven turns 9

wow where did that time go.....I cant believe he is 9 years old already. He is growing up so fast and growing in so many ways, not just physically but every day his speech and knowledge of language and how to use this grows. A smile that brightens the room and a boy who gives me so much joy day after day. Here are a few photos from his birthday last Monday(notice that where Steven goes piggy(yellow hippo) goes too).