The Heathenz's blog

Tooth #1 gone!

First baby tooth gone!

This happened last weekend and as you can see he is very proud, and the one next to it is also wobbly. The Tooth Fairy gave him a whole dollar which he spent on a ride up at the shops.

William's school term started last Monday. He is in Grade One, Group Three. As soon as Heath got him to school on the first day he was busy showing off where he'd lost his tooth. One of his friends had lost the very same tooth too! He was happy the holidays had ended (they were wearing on all of us) so he could play with his schoolmates again. He likes his new teacher and they spent most of the week playing games from what he tells me. It was a very muggy week and William had a lot of trouble sleeping a few nights so I'm extra glad the school made it an easy week on them.

One day after school we all made friends with a little white doggy and his owner who live just a few doors down. Then today we went to the park with them and the lady's sister and nephew who is eight years old. We had a lovely time. Shaeleigh is delighted by the small wiggley dog and William made a new friend he can play LEGO Star Wars and Spore with.

I have finally uploaded photos and a few little videos to Vox from our holiday in Sydney, so I'll be posting about them soon.

Also, here are some pics of Shaeleigh in the Special Little Spot she has made for herself in the bottom of the bookcase in our bedroom. Sometimes she likes to curl up in there and pretend she's sleeping by making little snores and shhhh noises. It's so cute!

I went to hospital!

Last Thursday afternoon, after enduring a week of mysterious abdominal pains, I was hit with an acute attack of gallstones pain. Heath called an ambulance and it took me up to The Northern Hospital in Epping.

I had already visited their Emergency dept on Saturday and Monday and had just got my ultrasound through the Reservoir Hospital on Wednesday which confirmed that the problem was gallstones and an inflamed gallbladder. My GP had written a referral and his staff and their staff were supposed to be working on scheduling me for surgery but the very, very acute attack happened first.

At least this time when I turned up I was still half packed from the last time and all that investigative stuff had been done. So, after a bit of faffing about, I was taken up to the Emergency Surgery ward and I got my own room. How lucky was that?

I had a very nice doctor who decided I really did need to get them out ASAP. When I told him I'd been in pain for a week he called me "super-stoic"! Ha ha! It's not like I had a choice.

He said I just had to take some antibiotics to get the gallbladder to calm down so they could take the whole kit and kaboodle out. Surgery was on Friday night. I had keyhole surgery. I'll spare you the details but the surgery was a bit more difficult than they had expected so it took longer. The result was that keyhole surgery was possible but not as small as was hoped. I don't mind. It will take a bit longer to properly recover and I'll have a slightly bigger scar but its not like I was planning on wearing a bikini over summer anyway.

So now I have four small deep wounds to look after. If I lie still I feel nothing, but getting up, laughing and coughing hurts the most. I asked when I could expect to be back to normal and they said six to eight weeks. (I learnt to push for a real answer to that question after Heath had keyhole surgery on his lung. They said he'd be right after a week and it was more like a month or more.)

So I'm still sore and delicate and not moving around a whole lot. Heath has to take on more than his fair share of the necessities of life for a while and the kids will have to not whack me in the tummy which is going to be a challenge for them.

Oh and also, while all this was going on, I got my letter from La Trobe Uni saying I've been accepted for honours next year. Yippee!!

Christmas and other stuff

Re: Kids' Christmas
On the whole you can't go wrong with Teletubbies or Blues Clues for Shaeleigh and she's starting to play her little cloth dolls properly now too. William still likes Scoobie Doo, dinosaurs, and cats of all types, and has just gotten into the Sonic the Hedgehog character. They both like shows featuring talking animals.

There hasn't been a lot going on here lately, but I thought I'd share some "every day" type photos.

Shaeleigh's enjoying the warmer weather.

The loquat tree is heavy with fruit at the moment and we really should pick them and share them around. I just keep forgetting, and when I do remember, it rains!

loquats

I did manage to pick one bowl of them. Shaeleigh surprised us and really went for them on sight. We didn't have to encourage her at all. Now I keep finding the seeds in unlikely places all over the house.

Kawaii Dinner

In a desperate bid to encourage William to eat something other than peanutbutter toast or chips, I bought him this set with cute black and white pigs on it. It has worked a little.

OK I admit it, I also got it because I'm a sucker for cute stuff.

bikes locked 2

This is evidence for Richard and Leon that we chain up the bikes at night. I do intend to keep the bikes in the back room which has been turned into a "mud room". Unfortunately that room still has some boxes of books we need to find a better place for, so the bikes still don't fit in there.

Sometimes as a special treat, we make our way home from school via the fish and chips shop. That's what we did last Friday afternoon. In the first one William's holding the curtain open for me and Shaeleigh to go through. In the second photo William's on his bike in front of the Lebanese bakery and cafe just up the road.

Happy Birthday Grandma

HBG2009_02web

We have bikes!

This week we went to Ray Larkin Bicycles to get William a replacement for the bike that was stolen a few months ago. His unofficial godfather, Richard, was keen for him to have a good quality bike and good quality lock. We got him a ProGear SuperCharger.

William's new bike

The guys at the shop were great. They checked the bike over for safety before letting us take it home and even gave William a free little blue waterbottle that clips onto the bike frame just like a pro's bike.

We also decided it was time to just go ahead with getting ourselves an adult bike. We've been talking about it since we moved to Reservoir. Since the plan is that I'd be using it the most for going to uni and taking Shaeleigh to daycare on campus, we got it to suit my height. As both Richard and Nathan at the shop suggested, we looked first at a couple of Avanti bikes. I really liked the hybrid but with a babyseat put on it, there was nowhere else left to put a rack for carrying books and what-not. I can't just use a backpack because it would get in baby's face.

Thumb

So we went with another ProGear, the RS10. it's not grey like that, it's a slightly purplish grey. 

We also needed a babyseat, rack, baby's helmet, lady's helmet, and bike locks which we got with a discount. We got a nice big cable lock for that one too because it has quick release wheels. Nathan even threw in a puncture repair kit for free and said he'd swap the seat over for something more comfortable. I was totally not expecting such great service.

They do three monthly services and give a 5 year warranty on parts.

I haz bike naow!

Shaeleigh very much enjoyed her short time in her special little seat. It took us a while to work out how to strap her in without strangling her. It was just a bit fiddly getting the straps to the right length. She's not very keen on her helmet but the fun of the ride distracts her from it.

I don't quite understand how bags are secured to the racks, and I think I may need to get special ones for that. Anyway we've got all summer to work that out. We're all looking forward to going down to the park together and riding around, especially William.

Don't worry, Shaeleigh, William and I all wear our helmets. Heath hasn't found his old one, but he doesn't expect to be riding it much yet so he can get another one later if he needs to.

Melbourne Murals

In Melbourne's CBD  there are murals everywhere in the backstreets and laneways. I thought I'd share some photos of a few I found on one of our recent excursions to the city.

William and Emmy

I took William down to the park on Saturday morning to run around with his friend Emmy. Spring has been most reluctant to start this year and it was the first really hot day of the season. William brought his water pistol. I managed to catch a few photos of them together. Aren't they adorable?

Birthday video

A video of Shaeleigh in new clothes with her baby doll that Grandma Smith sent her. I think I have more but I haven't loaded them onto a computer yet.

Shaesfirstbdaydoll

Shaeleigh's Birthday

It was Shaeleigh's first birthday on Wednesday last week. Here are some photos I took on the day:

A William Post

Come on Mum!

William's taken to riding his bike to and from school now. He really enjoys it and it means the journey takes less than half the time it previously did. He's the only kid in Prep who does it.

Today he was made Student of the Day for working hard all day. He got a lucky dip prize of an invisible pen. We were so proud we celebrated with fish and chips for dinner.

William will be turning six years old soon. Can you believe it? And then Shaeleigh will be having her first birthday just three weeks later.