Meet Bluebell...

A warm welcome to the newest member of our family... Bluebell the Budgerigar. We have been mulling over getting a pet for Naomi for a little while now. With work and the prospect of moving we didn't think that a dog or a cat would be the right level of commitment for us to take on at the moment. So that left rodents, fish or birds. Brad outright refused my suggestion of a mouse. I can't understand why!! We decided that fish didn't give too much interaction, so a bird it is.

Bluebell has been a big hit with Naomi. Every morning she races out to say hello to 'bubble'. She is thrilled when Bluebell eats the seed that she has helped to put in the dish, or drinks some water ("Bubble eat seed!"). With a lifespan of around 12 years, we are hoping that Bluebell and Naomi have many happy times together, and that our little princess learns a bit about responsibility and a love for animals too.

Having said all of that, we have been a house of sickness for the last 5 days. I started with a chesty cold, the coughing had me nauseous and then the nausea took on a life of its own and turned into gastro. I ended up with a shot of maxolon from the doctor to settle my stomach, so that I could at least keep fluids down. Then on Saturday evening, Brad came down with the same thing - we ended up in our hospital's Emergency Department for him to have the same shot. In Brad's case, being type 1 diabetic, he has to be able to consume a reasonable amount of carbohydrate, or his blood sugar levels drop dangerously low. When he can't keep down fluids, we know we are in trouble and it is time for intervention.

Thankfully Naomi's tummy has remained unaffected, although she has done some truly awful nappies in the last couple of days (sorry... too much info!). Again, the Lord has blessed me with a clogged up nose so I can't smell them during the changing process. We must be grateful for small mercies!

WFMW - tender noses

Despite it being spring in our part of the world (and feeling more like summer), we seem to currently be afflicted with a round of colds, 'flu, and chest infections. As our Family Daycare children are also bringing these bugs along with them into our house, some days I find myself wiping up to 4 little noses all day! All this blowing and wiping gets very painful for tender noses with just plain tissues, so I have found that occasionally interspersing tissues with blowing/wiping on wet wipes is quite soothing to little noses.

You can get wipes with aloe vera and other soothing things added, but do make sure that you use alcohol free wipes, so that you are not contributing to the drying-out of tender skin. Your little darling will have a moistened and soothed nose -- at least for a couple of minutes!

Now head on over to Rocks In My Dryer for more handy hints!

Love is...

... your hubby getting up early in the morning to deliver your 2 plain crackers to the bedside of your sick little one, where you have been sleeping on the floor all night, knowing that you will be nauseous without them.

Last week Naomi had some sort of viral thing that seems to be going around. She was spiking temperatures of 39.7 deg C (sorry, my maths isn't up to converting to Fahrenheit!), the doctor found no cause of infection so sent us home to ride it out with Panadol and cool sponge baths. 5 days of medicine every 6 hours later the fever broke. Thank goodness its over with no lasting effects (other than that we are back to square 1 with her sleeping habits -- or lack thereof!)

I woke up one morning after tossing and turning on the floor beside Naomi to find 2 Sao biscuits on my pillow - I had forgotten to bring them with me (not anticipating being there ALL night), and Brad noticed when he snuck in first thing to see how we were doing. What a sweetie he is!

What happened to my life??

Who am I?? Where is the real Sasha??????

I feel like I fell pregnant and my life just collapsed around me. Let me take stock.

Motivation - nil.
Energy level - nil.
Care factor - nil. Sometimes less than nil. Negative care factor.

I just wake up, nibble my dry crackers, crawl out of bed in time to get Naomi and I breakfast and brush my hair before the first daycare children arrive. Then it is the usual ups and downs, and by the time the last one leaves I just collapse on the couch, wondering what on earth I am going to feed my own little family for dinner. It's lucky our bill paying is all forward scheduled through the internet banking, because I hadn't turned the computer on in about 3 weeks.

Trying to think positively, I have been much less nauseous this time around. With Naomi I was actually sick most days, all the way through. This time, I have felt seedy all day but only been sick a couple of times (one was the result of a particularly awful nappy!). And it seems to be receding a bit, this week, so maybe I will be better in a couple of weeks time.

But will that bring my energy back??? My motivation?? My enthusiasm for the things I was doing before?? I hope so. Because I still want to do them. I just can't think about anything that complicated now!!

Tropical cool and war wounds...

You know its autum when... you can have a lazy Sunday morning in your soft fluffy warm dressing gowns without overheating! Yes, we here in Paradise think that it is getting cooler - the days are now around 28 to 30 deg C. Clear blue skies make for crisp cooler mornings (in our opinions, anyway!). Naomi is now bundled in flanelette pyjamas for overnight (mostly because I don't have a sleep bag that fits at the moment, and she hates having covers on her).

Yep, people, this is the best time of year, here in Paradise. The heat and humidity have gone (although I do miss the monsoon thunderstorms and rain). You can pretty much guarantee that the weather will be fine on any given day, and it is cool enough to make your morning cup of tea a total pleasure.

However, whilst the weather may be divine, things in the Cherished household are taken one day, and sometimes one hour at a time this week.

You may have noticed the red splodge on Naomi's nose, in the above photos? She took a tumble down the auditorium steps at my mum's graduation ceremony on Saturday afternoon. It was a glorious swan dive - right onto the metal non-skid strip that they attach at the front of stair treads. Think cheese grater effect, on very delicate skin. She had a red lump on the forehead and gravel rash from bridge of the nose right down to the top lip. Blood everywhere. Screams echoing around the auditorium. And I couldn't even muster up a tissue - not even the crumpled up type that live in the bottom of every handbag (you know you have one lurking in there somewhere!). But not me. Because I don't carry a handbag - just a gorgeous little pink princess ballerina backpack, stuffed with snacks, crayons, paper, toys and a spare nappy. I briefly flirted with the idea of sticking the clean nappy on Naomi's face, but thought the better of it when I realised it may be needed later.

So instead, I scooped up screaming child and all our paraphernalia and hobbled painfully (as I had twisted my ankle earlier that day!) the 50 metres to the nearest bathroom, to get handtowels with which to stem the bleeding.

It has left a very impressive scab down her nose. But I am having trouble with the top lip - it won't dry up and scab over, because of course the nose has started running like a tap again, causing the top lip area to be constantly covered in... well, you know what I mean.

Consequently, sleeping has been disrupted, child has been very whingey and grumpy and I have been tearing my hair out.

A nice tall glass of Motherhood, anyone??

To Dr Smith, with Love

Is there any more important service provider to your family, than your trusted family doctor? Ours is a lovely man, Dr Smith, who has 2 children of his own and a very thriving practice. He used to be located much closer to us at the Cherished household, but has moved his business to about 20 minutes drive away. He is so popular that getting appointments at short notice is difficult, and he is perennially late (go at 9.45 for a 9am booking!).

But he is so good with Naomi, and at reassuring her parents. Naomi had her 12 month injections today (well, 2 of them - the third is in 2 weeks time, because of a shortage of the vaccine), as well as a weigh and measure. That was the part I was dreading. At 6 months I took her to our local free health clinic for injections and a check-up. I ended up feeling terrible as the nurse told me she was "failing to thrive", due to her being in the bottom 10th percentile for size. I was told that I wasn't breastfeeding her enough (6 times a day was not enough?!?!).

Since that time I have snuck into the self-serve weigh and measure room, avoiding clinic hours, to monitor Naomi's progress without being guilt-tripped over having a small child (hello -- I am 5'2". Brad is 5'4". Do you think we will be breeding basketballers???).

So when Dr Smith weighed and measured her and we saw that she has not grown any taller, nor put on any significant weight in the last month, he just looked at me and said "Is she active?" -- Yes, started walking and can't keep her still! --. "Does she eat well?" -- Yes, like a horse --. "Is she still breastfeeding?" -- Yes, at least twice a day--. His final verdict -- "Well, then, she is doing fine and is going to be a petite little darling."

I could have kissed him. What a relief to not be put through the wringer.

And, after injections, he gave her a balloon and personally drew a smiley face on it. No sugar-loaded treats in sight, but she was happily playing with the balloon all the way home.

So, I have come to the conclusion that if you find a good doctor, stick with them. Through late appointments and longer drives. Stick with them.

Cosmic humour??

The Lord works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.

This week He has given us a glimpse of the start of the long-awaited tropical monsoon season, and even the possibility of our first cyclone. It has been raining on and off for several days. This is my favourite time of year in the tropics. The grass is instantly greener, the parched earth has that delicious pre-rain smell, and there is the possibility of the drought gripping our country easing even just a little bit.

However, owing to lack of a clothes dryer in the Cherished Household, I now have what Brad terms "the local laundrette" in our living area. Even this doesn't really bother me, because I love the rain so much. BUT......

This week, just for a little cosmic amusement..... our cloth-nappy wearing Naomi has developed a lovely case of baby diaorrhea....... So I have poopy nappies overflowing from the nappy bucket, nowhere to hang them to dry, and no sunshine to remove the stains! Mmmm.... this week can only get better.

Cough, cough... splutter

That is the sound of our home as we settle down for the night. The coughing is Brad, the spluttering is Naomi.

Our little blossom started with a chesty cough early last week. A trip to the pharmacist yielded a bottle of Demazin and hopes that it would soon be cleared up. A nightmare week followed. More coughing and spluttering, and terrible broken nights where Naomi would wake up, wide awake, and stay up for hours at a time... Finally, on Saturday night, she started with a constant wheeze when breathing so we went off to the 24-hour medical centre in town. She has been diagnosed with bronchiolitis - an inflammation of the small airways that is restricting her breathing. It is also apparently a likely pre-cursor to asthma in later life. What the?!?! There is no asthma in our direct family history??

So we now have to struggle to give her ventolin through a "spacer" device (mask that attaches to a regular 'puffer' device), 4 times a day. If there is no improvement by Thursday, it is back to the doctor to step up treatment to "the next level" (am I the only person who thinks that has a scary ring to it?).

The doctor also advised that a side effect of Demazin is insomnia and hyperactivity in children!! Stopped the Demazin and have had 3 good nights of sleeping -- so don't always believe the "could make your child drowsy" label!!

And to cap it off, Brad has the 'flu, complete with inflamed throat. He is on antibiotics and struggling along at work, because he is so back-logged from taking the week off after our wedding that apparently "time off is not an option". Why do men not understand that a day or 2 off to get healthy now, can avoid weeks of feeling low??

Has anyone else had experience with baby respiratory problems?