........we wish you a......

Its 6:35am, the house is quiet and I'm the only one up! Think I might go back to bed......

Some progress made!

Firstly I finally got some pencil cases (kinda) finished as presents for Ashlee's school friends. I still need to embroider some birdies on the front but other then that they are ready to go.


Mum - don't read from here on...........





































I was able to complete a zippered travel pouch for Mum. These pouches only take about 10 minutes and are super easy!


Lastly, nearly completed some appliquéd t-shirts for Zach and Anna. I might get around to making matching shorts/skirt but I doubt it, we will see.

Ok, kids call better go......Merry Christmas

I'm sooo ready for bed!

Up at 4am to feed Zach then back up again at 6:20am to be ready to go to the hospital. Zach was extremely hungry on rising so it was almost impossible to get anything done (while still holding him) and I ended up going to the hospital without brushing my teeth - yuck! Self conscious all day about it. Anyway, we got there about 7:30am and waited, played, got hospital tags on, blood pressure taken, temp taken, talked with the anaesthetist (sp?), played some more, got into some super trendy hospital jammies and waited some more. Went into the MRI about 9:30am. Zach didn't like the idea of laying on the MRI bed so I cuddled him while they gave him some laughing gas and he drifted off. Out I went to get something to eat as I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. Just wouldn't do it to the poor boy. I was also able to pickup my very first copy of Frankie Magazine! In the hospital store! More on that later.....

Lovely food, some time sitting in the sun and at 10:45am Zach is done and heading to recovery. Poor little man looked so small laying on that big hospital bed, oxygen mask on, fast asleep. He took a bit to wake up but when he finally came around he was fine. Had a breastfeed and was a little unhappy but after we headed up to the ward he had some juice, biscuits and a sandwich and was laughing and smiling like the old Zachary again. Bruised hands from the half dozen tries they had at finding a vein for the drip. (Apparently he has what's known as NICU veins - his veins are well prodded from his time in NICU at birth.) They ended up finding a vein in his foot so he has a little bruised foot too. All the staff were lovely but I'm glad that is over. Watching him go off to sleep against his will was a little hard. We will have to wait for the results now until after christmas and probably new years. Bad timing I guess but at least its done.
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This afternoon was spent at DFO. Went there to buy christmas presents and came away with heaps of stuff but unfortunately not much of it was for christmas. By the time we got home I was ready to curl up on the couch and sleep. My back was killing me and my feet hurt. I spent most of the time carrying Zach - boy he gets heavy! Mum pushed the pram and I ended up strapping Mitch in bedside Anna just to keep him still. Didn't come away with anything for me now I think of it - out of all the 'stuff' we got! Tomorrow will be spent braving the shops again to pick up some more things for christmas. Kids in toe - maybe. Man I'm a brave woman!!!
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On to other stuff. Thanks to Claire over at Loobylu & MixTape Zine I have discovered Frankie Magazine and I'm in love!

Photos originally uploaded by Loobylu

I spent an hour reading it while sitting in the sun outside the hospital and I must say I am hooked! Brilliant articles and bright cheery photos. Very addictive, so much so that I am even considering a subscription to this awesome mag (scrap that - I just did). Its the only way I would be able to access it - living in a VERY small town. See you all tomorrow folks!

No witty title right now

Things are a bit slow here at the moment - sorry. We are heading off to Canberra on Thursday (via Cooma for Zach's Physio appointment. We are also picking up his standing frame and a few other items) because he has his MRI on Friday (please keep us in your prayers). We - or should I say I need to be packed and ready to leave the house by 12:30pm at the latest on Thursday - I feel sooo rushed even though I started packing yesterday! I need to pick Ashlee up from school in Bombala on the way and be in Cooma by 2pm. Thankfully its only another hour or so to Canberra from there. We will be staying until about December 28th too! Looking forward to spending some time with my Mum and family without being rushed and needing to head home. Also if anyone is in Canberra and would like to catch up while we are there please feel free to drop me a line! FYI - this will be the first year we will be celebrating with Daddy......he is staying home this year.

I will have plenty of time to play some bloggy catch up, sew, craft and even get some digi scrapping done while I am away so watch out!
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In other news.....I have recently discovered this...

Graco Quattro Tour Duo Stroller

And quite frankly I {love} it! - It is only marginly longer then our current model, which is this one....

Steelcraft Enigma Twin 3 Wheeler Pram

And as you can probably guess is definitely narrower! I hate (with a passion!) pushing a twin pram around a shopping centre - you would not believe how many inconsiderate people there are out there! I don't really need it but it doesn't make me want it any less! I would have to sell my Steelcraft first before I would even consider buying it though.
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I am currently preparing for a 150th post give away too! Not long to go now!

Signing off at 11:13pm - tired, looking forward to preschool tomorrow and also doing a HUGE suck up for yelling at my dear sweet little boy tonight (feeling so guilty!). He did wake Zach up and then proceeded to make things worse - my yelling how ever woke up Anna and Daddy too! Things were settled down with in half an hour and Mitchell is now sleeping soundly snuggled up with.....Daddy.
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Oh and before I forget - Nicole - just wanted to let you know that I did get your message through facebook. Thank you for your kind words and great advice. I will get back to you very soon - things are a bit hectic. But again thank you.

Night!

Oh and ......

You can pass over this post if you want

I just wanted to put a few of my feelings down in writing and what better place then this?!

As you know we have now had our appointments with Dr Rosier (Our Paed) , Dr Lowe (Our Rehab Specialist) and most recently (On Monday) Hilary (Our new Physio from DADHC). These have all happened quite fast in the scheme of things, people usually wait 4 - 6 months plus to see these people . We have been very fortunate in that respect. Today I got the phone call from The Canberra Hospital that Zachary will now have his MRI on Friday December 19th. I guess with everything moving along and with Christmas etc I haven't really taken much time to sit and ponder but after the call today I think things started to sink in and really hit home.

'My gorgeous little boy has Cerebral Palsy'

Things started going through my mind.....'Why him?!' 'How will this effect our life?' 'How will this effect his life?' 'What would have things been like if.......'. You know those questions that we all ask ourselves at times. I know no one really has any answers to any of these at this time. Being only 18 months old it is still quite hard to predict how life is going to go and how things will pan out. After seeing Dr Lowe the feeling is that he may be 3 or more before he can walk on his own and he will have life long problems with co-ordination. This makes me sad and if I sit and think about it for to long it makes me very sad. I am now adding to the stress by thinking about the MRI. Zachary has to go under a general for the MRI because he stay very still - try asking an 18 month old to 'stay very still' at any time! I really don't like the thought of him 'going under' even for the short time it will be - what if he has a reaction? Silly I know but the thoughts are still there. What if they don't find anything? Then what? At least if they find anything then we will sort of have a concrete answer and more of an idea of the severity of things (or mildness I hope!). I have to wake him up at 4:30am and feed him because he can only have breast milk after 2am and nothing after 5am. We have to be at the hospital by 7am for admission and hopefully they get the MRI done soon after as I can imagine he is going to be very hungry! Ashlee, Mitchell and Anna will stay at my mum's as I'm not sure how long we will be there. This will be the first time Anna has gone anywhere without Zach too. How will she go?

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. On Thursday December 18th Zach has an appointment with Hilary again to do some more physio and we will also pick up some equipment that will make things a bit easier around here. A standing frame (so he isn't hanging off my legs constantly), a bath seat (because he is now to big for the baby ones and tips it over) and we are also looking into getting a weighted trolley for him to practice some walking. We will be seeing the OT (Occupational Therapist) soon too.

All these has just been on my mind and I needed to get it out so if you have read this far 'Thank You'......

Bear with me please

I'm trying to make things a little more festive around here but I've run out time right time and, well, it doesn't look right. I will be back soon to fix it up but in the mean time I hope you can still read my blog.....

Tomorrow is.....

my BLOGOVERSARY!

And I got ....... nothing.......

I have been so busy with travelling, trying to get the computer fixed, Zach's appointments interstate and his local appointments for Physio and now Anna is sick :( She has had to put it nicely yucky nappies for about 4 days now (and today I think we had gone through about 7-8 by 10am! Panadol is my current best friend and with Brett working nights this week time is very stretched) that I haven't had time to do anything! I feel really bad as I too let my 100th post pass by unnoticed too. I really wanted to be able to do something.....we can still hope for my 150th post give away though.

On Monday we had our first appointment with DADHC. It was more of an information appointment and needs assessment but in this appointment I found out that I am eligible for Respite Care for the Twins and and also HomeHelp too! These are also free of charge. I have chosen at this point to not take up the services but I am definitely keeping them in the back of mind as the kids get older. At this stage I am just treading water but able to keep up with things and I really want to keep the services for when I really need them.
Last night we also had Mitchell's Pre-school Christmas Party down at the park by the river. We had a visit from the man in the red suit who handed out pressies and sat for photos. Sadly we got rained out at about 7:30pm but we had been there since 5:30pm so the little ones had had enough anyway and we headed home to bed.

Alright Zach is trying to climb on me and Anna has just woken up, not in a good mood it sounds like, so I better head off. See you all again soon!

Eye Spy.....Something in my garden....

Since This is and On my desk have said their farewells I have been looking for something new to have fun with. Wonderful, I have come across this!

Welcome to BugandPop's new 'Eye Spy'! This week we are 'spying' something in our garden!


I'm spying the beautiful flowers of Spring/Summer. This is my first Spring/Summer in this house with this garden and I'm loving it! Everything is so alive and bright and lovely.....

Thank you to BugandPop for hosting and to CurlyPops for this weeks theme!

You may also be wondering where I have been - more on that later but just quickly it involves a computer and a mother board crash - darn computers! (but thankfully nothing was lost on the computer) On top of that because we have Vista on the laptop we had 'issues' connecting to our network so I could access the Internet - without having to be in the office. Thankfully my brother is a computer genius and he was able to sort everything out. Now just need to buy a new mother board and get my PC back!

LOVE Fridays!

No pictures today. I am currently in Canberra seeing my Mum and the rest of family after spending a day or two in Sydney.

My LOVE today is answers!

Speaking of Sydney......today we saw Dr Lowe! In just a few words: brilliant, lovely and just what we needed. I will do a more detailed post when we return home on Sunday but we have a few more answers and have made a bit more progress. Really worth the loooonnnngggg trip to Sydney with 3 (of the 4) small children. We did establish that it is not just affecting his legs but his right arm to and most likely his mouth - more on that later. We are due to go back and see him again on March 13th. In the mean time; the MRI, more X-Rays, hearing and sight tests and more therapy. Dr Lowe feels that we need a bit more time before we start with Splints or Botox (we are really hoping that we don't need to go to this extent). Zachary is only 18 months (today!) and starting on these things to soon may actually send him backwards rather then help him right now. We are happy with the current situation there. Now we just have wait for (the government red tape) our local DADHC branch to make an appointment with us for our needs assessment visit and start our therapy with them. Things are moving along slowly I guess.

We also have Anna's appointment at the Eye Hospital on March 5th. Why oh why is our health system soooo bad that you have to wait sooooo long to get into these doctors?! We have also been told that their is no Paediatric Opthamologist in Canberra so if we need to see anyone else we will need to travel to Sydney for that too! It is just one thing after another - please keep us in your prayers.

I really should head off. It is really quite late and I really should rest up for some shopping tomorrow.

P.S I also just made some lovely purchases over here - excited! hehehehe

Menu Plan Monday! (yes I know.....

its not Monday, but you get that sometimes).

This week I'm doing something a little different. Since we are going away on Thursday until Sunday I really don't see the point in doing a meal plan this week. I am looking forward to eating with family especially my Grandmother and Dad who I haven't seen since March.

This week I am going to share with you some of my favourite recipes from around the Web:

Mains:

Beef Casserole
Chicken & Potato Bake
Chicken & Vegetable Pie
Egg & Bacon Pie

Sides:

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

Desserts:

Baked Cheesecake
Coconut & Jam Tarts
Trifle a la The Happy House Wife

Baking:

Banana Bread
Anzac Biscuits
Cupcake Pops thanks to Bakerella - you really have to try these!
5 minute Chocolate mug cake - I've heard good and bad about this recipe but I've gotta say if done right it does turn out quite well!

So there you go, just a few recipes that I love for you to try out.

Make sure you head over to Organizing Junkie for more Menu Plan Monday's!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to another edition of......

Did you miss the last one?! Oh, hang on....no it definitely was Not Me that totally didn't even post a Not Me last week (or the week before now that I look!) because I really didn't feel like it. I really did not have so much going on that posting a Not Me just wasn't high on my list. I would never!

It is Not Me that is going to do Menu Plan Monday on Tuesday. I would never use the fact that it will still be Monday in the US when I do it as an excuse.

It was Not Me that was sitting on the couch with my laptop on my, well, lap at 2am this morning (when Brett got up for work) catching up on blog reading because I couldn't sleep. No it was not. I was sleeping like a baby at 2am - Not!

And....Anna is not laying on some pillows on the lounge room floor right now, asleep. She didn't wake up cry, again! I did not give in this time because it is the 3rd night in a row she has done this and I really don't want Zach to wake up again. Now I would never let my children do that when they have a perfectly good bed!

I most definitely did not almost cry out loud this afternoon when Mitchell went to spend a few days with Aunt Linda and I am not feeling a little teary right now thinking about it. He is a big boy and loves having sleep overs at Linda's. I really don't miss him so much I don't know what to do with myself. Not me.

I also am not sitting here writing this Not Me post right now at after 10pm when I should be finishing up (or should I say should have already finished up) cleaning up. No way.

It was Not Me that TOTALLY enjoyed an hour and half to myself today with no children, not even one, here to hang off my legs while I'm trying to do the dishes or climb all over me when I try to sit on the couch for 5 minutes. It was Not Me that turned the music up loud and sang while making the beds. That terrible voice you heard today, well it wasn't me!

And lastly, it was Not Me that just left a mess on the office/craft room floor after Anna knocked over the ironing board with all my pins and thread sitting on it. It was Not Me, I swear! Not Me that decided I would pick it all up in the morning while the twins are in their highchairs eating breakfast. It is also Not Me that is using that as an excuse not to do Menu Plan Monday today!

Head on over to Mckmama's to read some things that we all haven't been up to this week! Maybe even join in yourself!

Do you like pretty?

Are you looking for that something beautiful for you home? Or would you love to give a gorgeous gift this Christmas to somebody special? Than....

....I would like to introduce to you a brand new online shop!

It has the most stunningly pretty and sweet items up for sale at excellent prices!

I have gone through all the pretty things over and over and have chosen my absolute favourites (that I will share with you if you promise not to buy them first! hehehehehe)

First of all....this

French Vintage White Teapot
$13.95

I have fallen in love with these...

4 Black & White Coasters
$4.95

And this will be hanging in my kitchen!

Vintage Fresh Coffee Brewed Sign with Hooks
$25.00

And this in my bathroom...

Vintage Blue & White "Fresh Towels" Hooks

$25.00

I would love to design my little ones nursery/bedroom around this print

Vintage Baby Boy "Lullaby Sleeper & Co" Framed Print
$19.95

Or this one.....

Vintage Baby Girl "Lullaby Sleeper & Co" Framed Print
$19.95

There are some lovely clocks here....

My favourite

Buon Appetito Kitchen Clock
$19.95

So make sure you head over and have a look! They even have Gift Certificates available! Melissa will be adding new things all the time so if they don't have exactly what you want now check back regularly! Have any questions? Contact Melissa - she's lovely : )

Melissa's Blog

A Success!

Today Zachary and Anna spent an hour and half for the first time EVER at day-care. Just to see how they went.....it was an absolute hit, apparently not missing me one bit! I am so pleased. This means they can now spend some time at day-care every week and I can actually have 5 minutes to myself - YIPPEE! They are now going to go from 8am - 1pm every Monday and I can , well, do what ever I want! (In reality it will probably be housework, shopping or playing catch up).

Do you remember?

Just wanted to quickly add these photos, not sure if I ever blogged them!

Little shorts I made for my girl....


And......she walks!! I don't think I've seen her crawl for a good few days now - exciting!

I surprise myself sometimes + Sunday Stash + a recipe!

For the last few days Ashlee has been at me for a new pencil case. Her old one had really bit the dust. Being a small town there was no way I was paying the ridiculous amount they wanted for a small one down at the local general store! Then.....Ashlee had the brilliant idea to 'just make one!'. Well, you say, just make one.......easy for some to say but I have never just made one before and only had a day to do it in. A bit daunting really. So I decided to just do it and see how it all went. Ashlee picked out the fabric she wanted, I decided to use calico for the lining and I also added a middle layer of PUL (this I use when making MCN's) just to give it that extra bit of leak proof. Leaking pens can look ugly! So we don't want to keep you waiting, after a few hours sewing, a trip to the Op Shop for a white zip (which we picked up for a few cents), a bit of unpicking and re-sewing - zippers on pencil cases aren't my thing, I have never put a zipper on a pencil case - we finally came up with this..........(excuse the photos - sun was going down and it wasn't the best light, oh and promise not to look to close!)

Looks good, Ashlee loves it. The little birdie was meant to have a sort of rustic frayed edge look going on. Didn't come out to bad but not as I had pictured. Look out for more little things like this though because I did enjoy trying something new.

Now when I say plus Sunday Stash (week 2) I totally mean 'take a look at the fabric on the pencil case'!. I kinda like it - well I did buy it - but never thought I would be making a pencil case out of it! Find more players here.


I also promised some photos of the super yummy Apple (and Blackberry) Custard Slice. Now bear with me as my 4 slice tins have gone walk about (grrrrrrr!) I can not for the life of me find them so this one got cooked in a smaller cake tin. Worked fine I guess - definitely didn't change the taste, it was soooooo yummy! To explain the blackberries, I only had one tin and being a weekend the shops weren't open. My lovely neighbour kindly offered me her last tub of homemade stewed blackberries! I jumped at the offer and was very grateful.



And here is the recipe for you all:
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Apple Custard Slice

Makes about: 16
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cooking: 1 hour

1 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter, melted
icing sugar, to dust
FILLING:
800g can pie apple
(I used 500g pie apple & 300g stewed blackberries)
3/4 cup thickened cream
2 eggs
2 tbsp caster sugar
TOPPING:
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup slivered almonds (I didn't use these)
1/3 cup brown sugar
60g butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Lightly grease and line an 18 x 28cm slice pan with baking paper.
2. Combine flour, brown sugar, coconut. Blend in butter. Press mix firmly into prepared pan. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until lightly browned, allow to cool.
3. FILLING: Spread apple (& blackberries mix) over base. Whisk together cream, eggs, caster sugar. Pour over apple (& blackberries). Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until firm.
4. TOPPING: Combine all the ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over slice. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden. Allow to cool in pan. Dust with icing sugar, cut into squares and serve! YUMMY!
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In other news, while I was getting the photo's off the camera I came across some that I didn't take - which is rare. Daddy's been taking pictures of his boy! Here is Zachary, my budding artist.

....And check out the new teeth he is sporting now!

That brings the total up to 10 with the two new molars he has recently cut.

Zach is such a determined little man, even with his limitations he surprises us every single day! Attempting to crawl, trying to climb - unfortunately falling a lot, but trying all the same. His speech is behind but he gets around it and he is super cute to boot!

We also got the long awaited phone call from DADHC regarding Zach's intake. He has been accepted and will start his therapy very soon. Thank you to all those who prayed! This will mean that all his therapy will be government funded and this will save us thousands! We are very happy about this. We are also heading off on Thursday to Sydney to meet with Dr Lowe, that I mentioned before, to hopefully get some more help. Unfortunately this will cost about $350 just to walk in the door but from what I hear it is worth it.

Alright better be heading off - I'm trying to decide (by tomorrow!) if I'm going to join in on the fun with Sew, Mama, Sew! Give-Away Day.......do I have enough confidence??

Love Fridays!

I love Friday's because I get to read other lovely ladies posts and have them remind me that I need to change my address with Spotlight! I hope the tenants in our house are enjoying my mail!

Also Friday means lazy Saturday mornings with freshly brewed cappuccino's
and maybe even choc-chip pancakes!

Go see Big Cat for more Friday Love!

(We are getting closer to 150 posts!)

Well here I am (again)

A little bit more to say before I head to bed. Its late and Brett is going to wondering where I am.....

This afternoon I was able to finally finish some shorts! Yes, I couldn't believe it either! But its real look, I have photos to prove it!

Zach's (on the right) are completely finished and are also post-wear in the picture. He loves em'! Anna's are pretty much finished but the hem and waist are still currently pinned. I had a 'problem' with the cotton and ended up having to pick up some more while I was in town picking up Ashlee from school - she was getting back from school camp! I had to unpick all the hems and the waist too! Boy was that a job! Long story but it looked, well, cheap. Its done now and when I get two seconds tomorrow I will sew it all up and stick it on her! Photos to follow.

Here is my little man in his new adored shorts! Doesn't he look 'chuffed' - oh you melt my heart 'little J man'

Other things that went on here to day...Anna decided she wanted to cuddle! Zachary though and ONLY Zachary. He loved it to begin with.....

Took it for a little bit more....

Then decided enough was enough and wanted to be left alone. Anna didn't really want to :(

After a while she found my sunnies and proceeded to 'model' them - darling you crack me up!

Yes, little Anna. You are a stunner!

And how could we have a few photos with out one of my big boy - complete with photoshop-ed off (does that even make sense?) sauce from around his mouth....

Photos of the Apple Custard Slice (which became Apple and Blackberry Custard Slice!?) to come tomorrow and some more sewing! Oh and I'm going to tackle Ashlee and get Mitchell to sit on her so I can get at least one photo of her before she is 30!

I got an award!

from Tamara over at 1/4 of an inch! This is quite 'WOW' to me because Tamara's little piece of blog land is one of my favourite reads! Thank you!


Tamara's blog describes the award like this:

"The "Proximidade" or "Friendship around the World" award is for blogs that are special in some way and extend the hand of friendship around the world. All I have to do is pass this on to eight of my favourite blogs, and ask that they do the same."

Lovely idea - I always wonder who starts these. Here is my eight blogs that I would like to award for being 'totally excellent'!

CurlyPops
Miss Marzie
Lottielulu
Tiny Happy
Kootoyoo
Three Buttons
Two Little Banshees
RetroMummy

Thank you ladies for such lovely reads every day!

And here it is!

Yesterday I promised you a more personal post. Well one thing led to another and it never got done, but don't stress - I'm here now!

Here is my Wednesday - 'On my desk...' Friday post for you, I'm slack like that sometimes....

This has been on my desk for a few days now so I'm not cheating...it was there Wednesday too! The fabric on the machine is Zach's mostly finished shorts. I just have to hem them and add elastic. The fabric in front is for Anna's shorts - isn't it just great! They are cut out and half pinned so we will be getting to them today - shortly.

Later on I will be making this...

I really can't wait! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I'll get you some photos and the recipe when I'm done - are you excited?!

But for now I will be sitting for a moment enjoying this...

Ashlee gave it to me one year for my birthday (? - maybe Christmas, I'm hopeless today!) and I just love it! My little 'tea for one' set complete with a chocolate cake tea strainer - Oh I'm really hungry now!

And also......you know that fabric shelf in my office craft cupboard I showed you before?! Well I cleaned it up the other day, looks a lot better now.

Better back in second...I have been awarded!!!

Oh so funny!

Sorry to put you all through this but I have been seeing a quite a few 'Children' from 'Make Me Babies' around lately and decided to give it a try to see how 'correct' it got it - but I can't find any decent photos of Brett yet so I decided to do the next best thing! Use my brother, Daniel and my sister in law, Melissa...Here is the result....

This is their little baby boy - Damel

And their little baby girl - Melda!
Cute kids guys!