Feeding the cows and other great adventures...

Don't you just love these photos! Harry is clearly loving his first experience of feeding cows. And Mitch is sleeping through the entire process! This was taken a few weeks ago on my Uncle M's 60th birthday. We all went out for a beautiful meal and then afterwards headed back to Uncle M's and Auntie M's farm. The boys are still talking about it.

Each week sees another small step forward. Harry is trialling wearing underpants at night and he is very excited with being such a "big boy". It is not unusual for him to loudly announce to anyone that "now I do poos in toilet" - which I am sure thrills others no end. Both of the boys' speech is certainly improving and while they do have obvious difficulties with understanding, they really try hard to express themselves. Only over the past couple of months has Harry been able to really tell us what he wants without us taking forever with multiple guesses to work out what he is saying. And as a result he has become much more responsive to us and the meltdowns are far less frequent. Apart from that Mitch has taken to his glasses like a real trooper - which is great and he suddenly looks so grown up and serious.

The biggest news is that in less than 2 months both boys start early entry kindy. It is hard to believe that our little men are grwoing up so fast! I am sure they will love kindy. Mummy however may find it a bit of a challenge (grin). They will start off with 90 mins once a week for the last 5 weeks of term 3 and then will move into pre-entry. They are doing a extra term to aid in assessing what support they may need in the full time kindy setting. At this stage we are waiting for the team meeting and will take it from there.

Some of you may notice I am posting this at 3.15 am and wonder why I am not in bed like all sane people! Well unfortunately I can't seem to sleep since I started trying to get to bed earlier (lights off by 11.30pm). I am sure this is just my body's way of saying "hey you have knocked me about with all those late nights don't just think I am going to do what you want" (grin). Hopefully this will improve soon! Because I certainly need all the energy I can get running around after Mitch & Harry.

Sending lots of love to you all,
Lisa

A quick update...

I just realised I need to update a few things...

Firstly I was lucky enough to be chosen to be in the final for the Scraptacular 2008 for Scrapbooking 4 Less - Toni's beautiful layouts saw her declared the winner. Congrats Toni and all the other entrants. It was a lot of fun!

Also my cousin and his wife have had a beautiful little boy - congratulations S&S on the birth of your beautiful boy. He is gorgeous.

Finally unfortunately our meeting with the team for the boys therapists, paediatrician and kindy was cancelled today. I had myself all prepared for today, but it wasn't to be. Makes me realise how in all my years in hospital I truly didn't understand how much the health system seems to give families the run around. But no use in complaining (any more than I have) and we just have to wait for another appointment... hopefully before the boys leave Uni (grin).

Oh and this is a layout of the boys visit to the Big Rocking Horse with a little friend of theirs :-)

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend,
Hugs,
Lisa

Mitchell's Glasses

As promised here are some photos of Mitch with his new glasses. He is actually very good at wearing them, but now and then he rebels and you find them carefully placed on the bookcupboard or a table. They obviously are helping him because he doesn't squint as much and doesn't stand on top of the TV anymore.



Hugs,
Lisa

Speech therapy update

Well a fortnight ago the boys had their formal speech assessment in preparation for the Development Unit Team meeting next month. And the abridged version is that both have been diagnosed with a severe receptive and expressive language disorder and they tested in the first percentile for their age, meaning that if 100 children were
tested 99 children would score better than them. I actually took this news in my stride (which surprised me) and I took the literature I was given and left the rooms.

My poor hubby is devastated - he said he thought that "one day the boys would be fine" and this has hit him really hard. I have tried to emphasise to him that they are still our two beautiful boys who are social butterflies and love life, but
it is hard. Mitch & Harry are of course oblivious and they told me they "did a good job" :-)

So now it just needs to sink in...

The Speechie was great and took ages to explain this all to me. She agrees with my belief that the boys have microscopic damage done to their brains as a result of the extreme prematurity (even though all CTs etc have been clear). And she explained that the problems the boys have with their speech can never be cured, but can be managed to varying degrees.

On a happier note - Mitchell has his glasses and he loves them. The firt time he put them one he turned around and said to me... "Mummy I can see. Now I can read books!". He is very good with keeping them on and carefully puts them on if they fall off. At this stage the only problem we have is when Harry and Mitch have a fight - then the glasses seem fair game :-(

If I get myself organised I will post a photo of Mitch with his glasses - he looks so grown up!

Sending much love to our family and friends.
Even though we may not be in touch often you are in our thoughts and hearts,
Love Lisa

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and grandmothers who read this blog.
I had a very special day. I was woken up after a lovely sleep-in by two happy little boys who jumped on the bed and demanded a cuddle and shouted "Happy Mother's Day Mummy!" Then they gave me my Mother's Day presents - firstly the latest Ben Lee CD and then my beautiful eternity ring with three stones symbolising the three men in my life.

I have been dropping none too subtle hints about an eternity ring for the past few years and each time Kev would smile and change the subject. Then Pat visited from Sydney and asked what Kev was buying me for Mother's Day. She said a look of panic went over his face and he realised it would involve his least favourite activity.... SHOPPING! Then she suggested she would find out some things I might like, but had he though of a ring.

So last Thursday we went late night shopping just to check out some jewellers and I saw this ring and just fell in love. It isn't too big for my hands and the ring on display fitted perfectly. So Kev went back and picked it up yesterday.

Isn't it beautiful? I just adore it.

Happy Mother's Day,
Love Lisa

I HATE spam!

I really do hate spam! And not that processed muck in the can (although I don't like that either), but those incessant messages you get in your inbox offering to increase your sex drive, enhance your manhood or help you win millions.

My latest introduction to spam has been on this blog. So now in an effort to limit the spam I encounter on a daily basis I have changed my blog setting so that I can moderate the comments before they appear. All that means is that if you post a comment it won't appear until I have a chance to read it... Hope that makes sense.

Sending lots of love to our family and friends,
Hugs,
Lisa

PS - Here's a thought. Maybe the guy who invented spam DID have a very small manhood and that's why there has been a proliferation of those kind of messages. (hehe)

And life goes on...

The challenges of raising two very opinionated three year olds are many! Sometimes Kev and I look at each other at the end of the day and are amazed that we have somehow survived. Harry is particularly stubborn at the moment. He insists on doing everything himself, which as you can imagine takes a long time. BUT today it was very cute because he told me "no Mummy you not come in toilet I do it myself." So I stood outside of the cubicle (at the local park) and waited for the little master to complete his ablutions. I could imagine all kind of disasters... wet pants... wet shoes... BUT he DID do it all by himself. He was so proud and told Kev all about it when he got home. However he blotted his copy book by purposely scratching the car with a bark chip - he was so quick I couldn't even try to stop him. It was one very sad boy when Daddy got home.

As for Mitch he is adamant that he wants help with EVERYTHING!!! He looks up from under his long brown lashes and says "its too hard". I am sure this works on lots of epople, BUT not Mummy. It honestly takes all of my strength to not jump in and put on his shoes or put his toys away... instead a wait and wait and wait. He is so loving and adores long cuddles and kisses. He has been battling neverending nasal congestion, so we are waiting for an ENT appointment in August (hate to think how long it would take if we didn't have insurance). I just want to make sure that there isn't something we could do to ease his obvious discomfort. Sometimes at night he honestly sounds like Darth Vader with his noist breathing.

Apart from that we are starting to think about kindy - the boys will start early entry next term which is just 90 mins once a week. We visited the kindy the other day and both boys were immediately at home, grabbing the teachers' hands and leaving us without a backward glance. I think Mummy might be the one shedding some tears though when the first day arrives...

Hoping that all our friends and family are contented and well,
with lots of love,
Lisa

Guess what?!! I have made it to round 4 of Scrapbooking 4 Less' Scraptacular 2008!

I just had to share that I am up to round 4 of the Scraptacular 2008! Can you tell I am excited? I have always felt that my scrapbooking doesn't quite measure up to the other amazing work I see in magazines and on forums. BUT this time I decided to bite the bullet and submit my work. This is the final round and I am waiting to see what the criteria is and who I have to model my work on this time. The layout above and the layout on my previous post were submitted for round 3.

For those of you who love scrapbooking here is a link to Scrapbooking 4 Less. Shelley has some of the best priced scrapbooking stock around and the forum is a lot of fun!

Now I am doing a happy dance!
Very exciting :-)

Moments of beauty

I just wanted to share my latest layout of Harrison. These beautiful images were taken by my friend Bec when visited Sydney in October. Aren't they breathtaking? If only Harry was this serene all of the time (grin).

We are looking forward to a holiday at the beach this Easter. The packing and unpacking is a drag, but the boys love the opportunity to go to the beach and where we live isn't exactly coastal! It will be lovely to catch up with some of our family who will be there too.

Hoping that Easter Bunny is generous to you and yours,
Love Lisa

I feel sick...

Why is it that being sick is so much harder with children? I can remember a time when if I felt sick I could stay in bed all day. And now? Well Harry wants breakfast at 7am and nothing or no-one is going to stop him on his quest for 2 weetbix with hot milk and a slice of toast with "begemite". Mitch on the other hand would happily snuggle for an hour or two. He is NOT a morning person and neither am I... so we understand each other (grin).

The past week and a half I have felt really tired and lousy. So after a couple of visits to the GP and a chest x-ray I discovered I have Pneumonia. Now many eons ago when I was a nurse I looked after many people with Pneumonia (usually the elderly - does that mean I am getting old?). Anyway they would often mention how tired they felt and while I understood why I didn't truly understand. Let me tell you I feel tired... bloody tired... fall asleep at the table kind of tired. Infact every day this week I have ended up in bed sleeping while the boys have their nap. And even then I feel tired. Anyway on antibiotics and trying not to do too much... so I am hoping it will get better soon. Although if anyone can tell me how to rest with two three year olds I would be glad to hear (grin).

Apart from that I wanted to share my latest entry in our Scrapbooking 4 Less Scraptacular. It is a beautiful photo taken of Mitch & I at my Dad's place.

Hoping everyone has a restful weekend,
Hugs,
Lisa