NOOOO!!!

After 2 weeks of a dry cough, Miss El now has a full on cold. With cough (still dry thankfully), and sneezes (really nice yellow/green ones). Which she has also managed to share with her sister! The common cold brings a lot of fear with it in this household, knowing that you could be days away from a lung infection, antibiotics, hospitalisation. We are doing what we can, extra physio, which seems almost inadequte, but what else can you do?

On a positive note we are finishing school this week!!!!!! Tomorrow actually!!!!!! Which means we are free!!!!!!! We will be on holidays for at least 4 maybe 6 weeeks!!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!

Ups and Downs

UP - jamie oliver is starting his ministry of food in ipswich!
UP - had a great day in the city! Tiring but good
Down- Bel threw up after physio last night gross but seems fine today.
Up - a royal wedding is happening, can't wait to see the dress!
Up - Harry potter comes out tomorrow AND I was given a gold class ticket for my birthday
Down - can't see it until I have read the rest of the fifth book, and the whole of the sixth and seventh books and watched the 4th, 5th and 6th movies again
Down - Mr A worked last night and I am tired and lonely
Down - J's plane which he won in the city was broken by miss El this morning.

Life is full of ups and downs!

Prayers for Rachel and her mum Darcy as she has her bone graft surgery.

Masterchef cook a long

On Friday night junior masterchef had a cook a long. You get the ingredients, watch the show and cook a long! Well I thought 7.30 was a little late to start cooking with the kids, so we recorded it on HDD and then cooked it yesterday when little Miss El was asleep (we really didn't need her "Help"). It was a choc macadamia self saucing pudding with chantilly cream and caramelized orange sauce (it was meant to be hazelnut, but I don't like hazelnuts)! It was delicious and the kids had a great time making and eating it. Yum!! I hope they do another cook a long when the next series comes out!

In other news Em has a strange virus thing where she has been losing her voice for a few days. Now El is not herself, a little warm, and very clingy. so i wonder if she has the same thing. I guess only time will tell. Hopefully, her cough swab came back clear and no phone calls will come tomorrow.

Back to school tomorrow, and a fairly ordinary week. Except for Tuesday when we are venturing into the city to see the christmas windows and display at Myer and having lunch, with Auntie A and my Mum for my birthday. Here's hoping its nice weather and not too hot.

mid-term break

because of our crazy week I decided that we would take a week off of schoolwork! I borrowed the title mid-term break from an English blog I follow where they seem to have a break in the middle of every term(what a fantastic idea!).

It was a fantastic idea to take the week off with miss El's appointment, cleft pals morning tea, shopping for swimming stuff, PT, tennis, starting swimming lessons, catching up with friends, going to the library, the optometrist, and Friday activities. I just don't think we would have fit school work in! And it was a relief to not even think about it.

I am sure it will be hard to get stuck back in on Monday but for now I am enjoying the freedom!!

This week is cleft lip and palate awareness week in Queensland. We attended a morning tea and Miss Em got to see some abslutely gorgeous babies who looked just like her when she was a baby. Clefts are very common occuring 1 in every 600-700 births. I remember when we found out Miss Em had a cleft via ultrasound at about 20 weeks. My whole world stopped for days, I read the entire booklet they gave us at the hospital, and adjusted to life with a less then perfect baby. Five years on I look back and realise what a huge time that was in our lives, and thank everyone for their support: cleft pals qld, family and friends are at the top of the list. Handing your baby over for surgery is one of the most difficult things for any parent. So today I think of those people handing their babies over for surgery of any kind, but particularly clefts. Prayers please for Darcy who is handing 6yr old Rachel over for bone graft surgery next week.

Clinic

Well, Monday was clinic and yes we did survive, in fact everything was great! Miss El had put on enough weight had no cough, and no other issues! So we don't have to go back until February!! Which is wonderful. El still hated being weighed and measured and cough swabbed and having her chest listened too. She screamed for everything, and asked to go ("go car" and pulling our bag towards the door) after each person left! We waited for ages this time for everyone, I have a feeling they were quite busy.

Her appointment in February should be her annual review, which will be worse then Monday's appoinment, but I'm sure we will survive. So, hopefully there will be no phone calls next Monday (surely she couldn't grow anything too bad with no cough???? - wishful thinking). Then I can forget she has CF for a couple of months, apart from physio everyday, tablets with every meal, iron supplements, and my supersonic ears which hear dreadful coughs from miles away!!!

One Week

One week til miss El's apppointment. Its not really bothering me yet as I am quite focused on Miss Em's birthday. Our really quiet afternoon tea has grown to 12 or 14 kids plus adults! So that is a little stressful for me! I think the park sounds like a good option (if its not raining)!

I tried another of Jamie's recipes last night (well, really two recipes which i pick and chose from. IT all went really well until smart Mummy put the gravy and salad on the table and failed to sufficiently supervise one quiet quick little toddler. Hence our lovely salad was dressed with some gravy and didn't really go very well! Note to self do not put food on the table until I can supervise!!