Monday, March 31, 2008

For Cylie & Ellie

See, I have been sewing. Here's the proof.

I'm still not sure if the spots work. I kept telling myself not to do the whole thing in spots but I ended up not being able to resist. I heart stripes and I heart spots - what's a girl to do? Also remind me next time not to sew after 10pm. Terrible things happen to my eyesight so best if we don't look too closely at that one.

I've also developed a weird obession with appliqué lately. If it stands still, I will sew something on it. Just ask the kids. I noticed them starting to look all nervous and cautiously grab each others hand when I begin ratting through their cupboards but they can relax now that I've run out of plain t-shirts & singlets... Hmmm, do you T would like some appliquéd undies?

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

A haiku for our plumber

hot water system
precious fluid leaking out
we are broke again
I think that just about sums up the rest of our weekend, what do you think?

Friday, March 21, 2008

21 March 2005 - 4.48pm

"Throughout my whole pregnancy I was really undecided about whether I wanted to attempt a VBAC or not. I had a long and traumatic labour with my first DS and at about 25 weeks DH & I made the decision - we would have a repeat c/sec. I was comfortable with this decision and it was just a simple matter of booking it in with the hospital in early April - how wrong was I...Well, it all happened very quickly. I was 33 weeks pg. About 3pm on Monday afternoon I was at work and I got my first contraction. I honestly didn't know at the time that it was a contraction though - I thought I was just severely constipated and I tried to go to the loo a couple of times, but didn't have any success. DH had just driven to Mackay (about 4 hours away) for work that morning so I rang him and told him, but neither of us really thought I was serious. Anyway, I had a Drs appointment at 4.15pm so I thought I'd go along to that and she would be able to tell me what was happening. I drove myself to the doctor (bad move - I was contracting all the way) and went straight to the toilet once I got to the doctors. At this point I still didn't believe I was in labour. Once I was on the toilet I felt the urge to push and I noticed blood. I told the receptionist and she got my doctor in to me right away. Dr examined me and I was fully dilated and pushing - ambulance was called and the whole surgery was pretty much in a state of panic, as clearly they weren't equipped to deal with a birth, let alone a premature one.The ambulance arrived really quickly and took me to hospital. In the ambulance I was given some gas which was just wonderful. I remember the ambo telling me that we had arrived at the hospital and that the birth suite was waiting for me. I was telling the ambo that they had made a mistake, I needed to go to theatre. I think she just nodded and humoured me. When we arrived at the birth suite I was examined and was told that there was no time for a c/sec or even an epidural. I would have my baby soon - all it would take were a few good pushes.My son obviously has a sense of purpose - he arrived face up and very, very quickly, only about 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital. All up, my labour was 1hr 48 minutes. Ryan Alexander weighed 4lb 15oz (2.245kg)DH missed the whole thing unfortunately and it was pretty scary doing it all alone, but I made it and am feeling really good now. (still in a state of shock, but good!!)At the time the pain was almost unbearable, but it is so nice to be up and walking around only minutes after giving birth and not having to rely on everyone to perform the simplest tasks. I am still a bit sore, but nothing that even compares to the pain I was in after my c/sec.Ryan is still in SCN at the moment, but he is getting stronger every day and we hope to have him home with us in a couple of weeks." ~ 27 March 2005.

3 years ago I stroked him through the holes in the humidicrib and wondered what lay ahead of us. Today I watched him eat cake, rip presents open with the vibrancy only a small child can harvest and fall soundly asleep, still clutching his brand new Spiderman hat. Happy birthday, Little Man, you've come a long way... xxx


What's not to smile about?


The highlight of his day - cake smashing...

Friday, March 14, 2008

My best friend

Many cheers to Ellie for providing me with a topic to write about after 2 weeks of stagnation.

My best friend and I have known each other since we were 12. We met in grade 8 (she was a boarder also) my partner in crime ever since. For ease of reference, I shall reduce some of the more interesting points of our (extremely) complicated friendship down to dot points:

- She has two beautiful children, Boy 6 & Girl 5.
- We never acknowledge each others birthdays.
- We actually haven’t spoken IRL in better than 12 months and rarely by email.
- She has moved to a town 3 hours from me yet neither of us have bothered to make contact again.
- She taught me to smoke.
- I taught her to burp (but I’m still better at it than she is…ner ner)
- At her 18th birthday party her mum smacked me on the bum and sent me to bed because I was very drunk.
- She is the most unflappable person I have ever known. Nothing stresses her. Ever.
- She’s extremely generous and would do anything to help anybody out of a jam.
- She is however bloody hopeless with pets. She once ran over her own cat in the driveway.
- Every night before going to bed she has have a cup of black tea with sugar and a cigarette.
- She’s one of those annoying people who are completely coherent the moment they get out of bed whereas it takes me ages to work out what the hell is going on when I wake up.
- She was my lucky charm at school. I would never get caught doing something naughty if she came along – if she wasn’t there I was invariably in hot water.
- We once walked from school to town to go to friends birthday lunch. We arrived soaking wet because it seemed like a good idea at the time to frolic in the sprinkers outside Oxley’s on the River along the way.
- In grade 11 I promised I would be able to make her hair a lovely lustrous shade of black by dying her hair with Magic Silver White. I threw the whole bottle in for a more dramatic effect and managed to stain her face and hands purple for the next two weeks. I still don’t think she’s forgiven me for that.
- She was once nicknamed “Truckie” by a male friend of ours. (I really hope she’s not reading this – I will be in a world of pain for disclosing that particular titbit).

I’m not big on this tagging thing. I’m pretty sure I only have 3 regular readers who have blogs of their own so I am running rapidly out of tagees. So, Jenn, Candi and Amoir, take pity on me and consider yourself tagged. The rest of you, go get yourself a blog so I don’t look so lame.