Time for that promised....

Update I think.....

I will get straight into it then....

Firstly, Ashlee:

Mummy's girls {heart}

Not to much going on. Still a few days left of school holidays. She looking forward to going back to school but not. Just to have some time with friends and no 'little people' around. They get a bit tiring sometimes for a nearly 12 year old. Other then that she will start netball this term. Her big love. She has also been chosen for the district team too so that means a lot of driving and training.....something I'm not looking forward to much.

While away for Easter we stayed at Mum's/Nan's and Ashlee decided to have a bit of fun one night and play a bit of 80's dress ups. Oh so funny!

What she was on?......No idea?! Hahaha. Also why she even owns the clothes that enabled her to do 80's dress ups......?!

Mitchell:

Nearly a big 5 years old! Loving preschool and has a wonderful best friend Max. Those two are just nuts together! He would go everyday if he could but at the moment he is only going 3 days a week. Can you believe he will be starting 'big primary school' (as he puts it) next year! Just 10 short months away! My little baby - where has the time gone?!

Mitchell is also really keen to learn to read at the moment. We read ALL THE TIME! I love it (most of the time) and I'm sure he will be reading away before he gets to school. They do say that if I child can read before they start school they have a brilliant start and do a lot better than if they can't. He still adores Thomas (and friends) and has gotten both Zachary and Anna in on the obsession too!
Mitchell loves riding his bike.....

And being a TOTAL boy, he loves playing with trucks in the dirt.

Alone....

Or with company....

And of course....

He loves his Mummy!

Now, My sweet little Zachary:

Everything with Zachary at the moment is pretty stable. We have put in our application for funding for his Kaye Walker and should have it very soon. Kaye Walkers are not all that great for outdoor, uneven ground use so Brett made up a little walking frame for him to use outdoors. He loves it!

For some reason we don't have one of him walking around in it so here is Anna doing a demonstration on the same day.....

Brett has since added a curved rail a bit lower so it is easier for him to use at the moment. Mitchell even has a ball pushing it around so we know it will do him till at least 5 years old. Brett is going to give it a bit of a paint job too - soon.....

We are having a bit of a break from therapy over the Easter period but will back into it from next week. MEIS (Monaro Early Intervention Services) starts back on Tuesday but we will be in Canberra for Zach and Anna's 2 year check up with the Paed and also a review for Zachary. Only for the day this time so thankfully we don't have to pack up half the house to go!

Overall, Zachary doesn't let anything get in his way and if he comes across something that does his ever helpful and loving twin sister is there to help him!

And he just loves her :)

He is the happiest little man I've ever met.....its truly hard to get a photo of him when he is not like this.....

Or this....

He loves hanging with his {little} sister....


What would we do with him?! Love you little man!

Last, but definitely not least.....

Our little Princess, Anna:

She has so much sweet, sweet love for Mummy....and everyone else!

Talking at the speed of a freight train! She really is a laugh a minute! Always saying some thing cute and has a 'Hello!' for everyone. Dribbles like nothing else at the moment while cutting those 4 eye teeth but it definitely doesn't take away from the cuteness!

On a more serious note.....We have been referred from our eye specialist in Canberra to the Eye Clinic at the Children's Hospital in Sydney. He thinks she will most definitely need surgery to fix her eyes now that it is starting to affect her vision. Unfortunately she has gotten to the stage were she just doesn't see things and either runs into them or trips over. Oh, my poor baby, its the last thing we wanted for you. We will take it one step at a time though and see what they say in Sydney.....

Both Zachary and Anna love Preschool (daycare). Adore it really. Sometimes it takes a bit to settle them down in the beginning but they settle in ok.

Anna has a few odd pass times....

Like standing on her head?!

Or just laying in odd positions?!

But loves to 'cook' with her brother...

Your are beautiful though.

And I adore your hair!

And your pretty (chubby) face

Now.....my crafting Mojo?! It's still here! Really it is. The problem has been my Organising Mojo - now that seems to have taken a little walk. I haven't been able to get into my Office/Craft Room lately as it currently looks like this....

And my 'craft space'? Like this...

That there on the desk is a fairy floss machine....?!

Oh wow, did I just post those photos?! Now there is no turning back is there!

All those boxes contain a hoard of clothes that I have cleaned out recently from the kids wardrobe and mine also. Oh, ok. Maybe my organizing Mojo isn't gone! Its just been put to use somewhere else...... Yes, there is A LOT of clothes and I'm currently sorting them out to give to my SIL who is expecting number 1, the op shop and some of it I will sell. We have in those boxes Sz 00000 to Sz 10 clothes in both girls and boys and also Maternity clothes and clothes I have come to be sick of. Some day soon I hope to have them gone and Crafting back! I'll keep working on that. On Monday and Thursdays mornings when the twins are in Daycare.

I'm also hoping to get back into these:

































Well, that is some post! (For me) So I'm off to try get some more house work done before the delightful two wake up. Glad you have beared with me this far :) See you all later!

Another year older.....

Wow what a day! It really didn't feel like my birthday and the numerous times I had to sign and date today, would you believe that at least three times I actually asked the date before it 'clicked'!

Its late, I'm tired and I'm going to bed. I'll do a longer post tomorrow but the day in short -

Zach got his xray but not before we had to reschedule at another hospital 1.5 hours away because our local doesn't print film, they only give out disks.

Brett hurt his ankle at work earlier in the week and is now on work cover. After an xray today we find out that its not broken - this time. He does have two old breaks though that he pushed through without being seen by a doctor - Men!

Today was a long day, a lot driving. We were out from 8:15am to 6:30pm. All for a bit of shopping and an xray. Thankfully the kids were all pretty good but I'm sure glad to be home and out of the car.

Tomorrow, back to Bombala for an appointment each for Zach and Anna with the MCHN. Zach is not gaining weight like he should, he needs to be checked monthly. Mitch at preschool so one less child to chase around tomorrow. I might even get a break at some stage!

Good night everyone!

P.S Happy Birthday Luke for tomorrow - Love Ashlee....

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!

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'......

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!

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

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??

Feeling C***!

Sorry about the title but it's true....

Not much going on here. Haven't been feeling the best for the last few days. I did end up finishing Brett's overalls but other then the usual everyday house work there hasn't been much else going here. This waiting to see people regarding Zach is really getting me down. There are some real issues that I need to discuss with SOMEONE and its just not happening. I really feel for people out there with children with a disability (Geez - did I just say that, actually has made me feel a little sad). Zach's issues could be 100 times worse and I would still probably not have made any progress. Mitchell was at pre-school on Wednesday for 4 hours and it felt like I was on the phone the ENTIRE time trying to get something happening.

Come back tomorrow - I'm actually going to do 'On my desk' ON FRIDAY! I'm going to have a nice hot chocolate and head to bed.....in the mean time I'll leave you with a few photos....(to brighten my night :)

The outcome of our 'Puff Painting' session (I don't know who enjoyed it more - the kids or me! haha)



And a few 'happy snaps' from the past few days....Sweet Dreams!



And there will be pictures of Ashlee on here soon! If she will stand still long enough to get them!