round two

My boy my boy.  My beautiful boy.  My children are my heroes.  Monday morning we took Minol into the hospital for a little more surgery on his lip.  His surgeon is an amazing man and when he told us earlier on in the year that he would like to even up his top lip (although to us it was perfect however it looked) we scheduled his surgery for this month.  As Big Minol was in Melbourne having photo shoots with a world champion BJJ guy, taking classes and winning gold medals at the Melbourne International comp for almost two weeks (he only came home Monday morning), I tried to prepare my little boy for his hospital trip and warn him about having to fast.  He was AWESOME!  Just took everything in his stride.  Jumped around on the hospital bed before his surgery, impressing everyone with his batman costume (of course he had to go in as BATMAN- they even put him to sleep wearing his batman mask!)  After the surgery when he finally woke up he ate two icy poles and was up again playing with the toys at the hospital and ready to go home.  Even when we got home he was running around the house again.  I have been very cautious and telling him to slow down as I would hate for him to bump it and split the stitches open.  And my Estella girl.  What a girl.  Estella is now getting around the house like nothing else in her brace.  She has attempted the sumo stand a few times but mostly stands on one foot holding onto things or climbs up shelves and couches and tables and beds... EVERYTHING!  I've had to move her cot back to the bottom setting so she doesn't climb out.  She is wonderful at breakdancing in the middle of the lounge room.  She is just so cheeky though and tries to escape every time I change her nappy or after her baths.  She does laps around me while I try to catch her.  I just love how these beautiful children don't let anything slow them down.  It is so inspiring and encouraging.  Especially when sometimes I feel weighed down by hospital visits and being a single mum while Minol goes to Melbourne I just look at these kids and feel so blessed.  

Estella the artist

Little Miss Estella.  It has now been 6 weeks in the cast.  We had a check up last week and all is looking great according to the specialists.  Another 4 weeks and she will be able to have the cast removed.  Whoohoo!  She is doing so well, crawling around and pulling herself up on things.  She hasn't slowed down as much as I thought she would.  She still manages to get up to all kinds of mischief, including drawing on everything.  I had to buy some special washable textas for her to make it easier to get off her arms, table and floor.  With all that has been happening I forget how much she is growing up.  She certainly isn't a little baby anymore!  She is a crazy little thing, with a super evil stare but such a cheeky smile.  I'm sooo looking forward for her to finally having her cast removed.  Not sure how long she'll need a brace after that but I'm sure it'll be an improvement to the heavy as cast! 

The Girtie who turned Thirty

September 25th 2011

Yes, I did it!  I turned the big 30.  Being a Sunday I had a lovely day at church, then enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch in the lounge room provided by the best bestie ever Miss Collettie Bo Betty Gibson.  Big Minol was outta town (in Melbourne) so I was lucky to have wonderful family and friends to spoil me! Sunday evening we headed to mum and dad's for dinner. 

(I will have to post some pics of my very thoughtful birthday presents). 

Loving the Bunny

Most days are tiring and a lot of the time I feel anxious and stressed and sometimes a little depressed with having to care for Estella.  She has been wonderful and is coping very well but she has been very clingy and demanding both physically and emotionally.  She likes being constantly entertained and held a lot.  Lately she has begun crawling around on the floor which entertains her for longer periods.   The weather hasn't been wonderful lately so we haven't been out much.  But last week was the best day.  We went to meet the new resident at the Docking household and we LOVED her!  Probably not quite as much as Levi loves his little wabbit but we were certainly impressed!  It was cute when Estella was checking out the rabbit with Livy, you can see in the photos as Livy got close to Estella, Estella put her arm around Livy and gave her a big hug.  Estella even had a little ride on the bike AND a jump on the trampoline.  Minol hasn't had much experience on tramps so for a while he was ordering everyone off or to sit down so he could jump by himself!  He got the hang of it in the end.  Levi is a little gun on the trampoline!!  Anyway, it was a very refreshing day (thank you soooo much Nikki, Liv and Levi AND Bunny), we really had a wonderful time!

Ok, where to begin.  Life has been full on crazy of late.  But things are good.  I realised that I must write things down more ofter otherwise they will be forgotten!  Lets start with a funny moment today.  Last night Minol stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's and had an absolute ball.  (He slept over at their place the weekend Estella went in for surgery and didn't want to come home so while Grandad is on holidays he had another little sleep over!)  Anyway, we picked him up this afternoon (Estella really wanted to take a turn and stay with Grandma but I'm not sure Grandma is ready for that one yet), and we dropped into the supermarket on the way home to grab a few things.  Minol asked if he could go in with Daddy while Mummy waited in the car with Estella but upon Daddy opening the car door ready for him to jump out Minol exclaimed "oowwwww, my body's so sore, I can't get out".  So I asked him if he wanted to stay in the car with me and Estella.  He said yeah and "I'm like Grandpa..."!!!  Hmmmn, old man Minol!  Dad DID play a few games of tennis last night and said he had been complaining today of a sore body so does have an excuse.  But funny non the less.  

He is such a little champ.  He has been such a great big brother to Estella and we often see him giving her hugs and kisses and offering to hold her hand in the car.  He is especially very caring and looks after her in Nursery.  Since Estella went into nursery he has been so good staying there without Grandpa.  I'm very excited to see him learning so much in nursery.  

I'm also very excited that for three days in a row he has done poops in the toilet.  For him to do poops three days in a row in itself is an achievement!!  For a long time he has been a 1 poo a week boy and no matter what the GP has to recommend nothing has helped.  I was sure it was more a psychological thing though and so Big Minol and I have been trying trying trying to work out how to help him poo more.  I wont go into details but all of a sudden things are falling into place thank goodness!  Go Minol! 

Estella Estella miss Bo Bella.  Mum found out that Dad has a Stella in his family history.  So that's nice that Estella kinda has a family name too!  So my little crazy angel is doing so well.  She has the snuffles this week so is a little clingy again but I'm so amazed at how quickly she has adapted to her cast.  In saying that though, the first two weeks have been so draining both emotionally and physically.  But I'm coping and Estella is happy and this week she has had 3 or 4 nights of sleeping through the night in a row.  Aaaaaah!  She is becoming more confident in her cast and was pulling herself around a bit on the floor today.  She is saying more words.  She does a little slurred I love you.  When grocery shopping the other day going down the biscuit aisle she pointed saying "Bik, bik..."  When she wakes up in the morning we hear her yell out Mamae, or Papai.  Strong YEA and NA.  "Bye bye" on the phone... which she loves talking on.  Her and Minol have fights over the phone sometimes.  It's lovely seeing her develop in different areas.  I know she's be running in no time once the cast is off and I'm actually enjoying not having to close doors and put things out of her reach all the time!  

We are very lucky at the moment too, it has been a huge help to me, Jacoba and Kaea have been coming over to occupy Estella (and Minol) which gives me some solid time to do things around the house.  They are such awesome girls and the kids just love them! (I love them!!)  So I figure that I just need to keep the next 7 or so weeks pretty busy to keep Estella occupied and we'll be fine.  Bring on some more nice weather though!  Need some outings!  

Anyway, that's life as I know it at the moment.  Whoohoo.

2 weeks down...

My beauties.

The crazy girl