A week in review

I've been so busy pottering around that I havent blogged for a few days.

This week my baby turned 12 weeks old. He is getting so big and of course is so cute.

See for yourself

He is a very happy baby, lots of smiles and laughing now. I love this age. His little eyes glaze over when he sees me as if to say, 'thats my mummy and I love her so much'.

And I have some exciting news. I finished my midwifery course in January this year but didnt hand my final assessment in until April (oops). So after many phone calls and emails and organising my paperwork from my hospital and the uni, I finally registered as a Midwife. What more exciting is I only ever expected to get a pass (or hoped) and I ended up getting 1 distinction, 2 credits and 3 passes. Woohoo. My second degree finished, not bad for a person who apparently wouldnt amount to much and who was a 'distraction' at school. I still thank my english teacher and modern history teacher for showing me how to write essays.

Not bad for someone who was diagnosed with MS half way through the year, has three children, fell pregnant and lived in horrible staff quarters for 8 months. I'm pretty dam proud of myself.

So whats next? My masters of course, I started a Masters in health care management and will finish that and further study health education. I actually enjoy studying.

My results

Sunday afternoon I thought I'd go have a little nanna nap and ended up with 3 other people in bed with me, Andy was laughing at me, and Steve and Josh played games on his phone. So much for a relaxing cold afternoon when you feel like crap.



The other day I went outside to check up on what Cody, Joel and Joshua were doing and I came across them 'hanging out' on the trampoline. It was so funny cause Josh copies his older brothers.

My dad

A very dear friend of mine sketched this photo of my dad, I really like it, sorry for the poor photo quality. She also paints portraits of people that have died. She is an awesome painter.

If you are interested in her services, email me or leave a comment. I highly recommend her, and a lovely person too.

A winters day at the beach

After being in Sydney for 2 days it was nice to come home to fresh air. I went to Sydney leaving on thursday, stayed at Nathans place in newcastle, then headed down to Sydney the following day for a Doctors appointment with my neurologist. I had lunch with the girls and work and little Andy enjoyed being the centre of attention. My neuro has decided to keep me on my current medication of weekly Avonex injections (yep I give em to myself, I hate it) instead of starting a new treatment which is monthly IV infusions but a much better success rate. My eye sight is really bad but Im ok otherwise. One day at a time I guess.

Friday night was spent at a girlfriends place having a girly night in and saturday we helped her get organised to move house and tidy up the place a bit. Then home saturday afternoon.

So today we decided to go to the park down at the beach for some fresh air and a play. Andy enjoyed looking around and Joshua loved the beach which he had all to himself!!! The bonus of going in winter. The water wasnt that cold and as you can see Josh jumped straight in. He lost his balance and went face first into the water poor little fella.

Steve and him enjoyed playing in the sand and finding little creatures in the shells.

After falling in the water we wrapped him in a blanket and decided to head home. All in all a nice time relaxing watching a lazy winters day go by.

10 week old uni student

My little man looks ready to take on the world

Sunrise 13/7/2008

A random sunrise photo taken this morning. Im desperate to get up early and go to the beach and take a sunrise shot but sooooo cold.

This is the view over the back of my property

School Holiday Fun

I'm trying to make sure we do at least 1 thing every day to have fun these school holidays. These photos are of us at the beach late afternoon, we just wanted to get out of the house for an hour so we went to have a play at the park. The boys were sitting on top of the hill and then rolling down.
Joel rolling down the hill
Cody crashing at the bottom of the hill

Joel and Cody having a break

My three boys, Andy was in his sling helping me take the photos

Balancing

We also went to CRAZY DAY at forster on thursday.

So much fun and I look forward to it every year. Basically its where all the local shops have massive sales, so the surf shops, nick nack shops, all of them have specials and mark downs that are CRAZY!!! They also have street buskers and street stalls, its a bit of a carnival atmosphere and lots of fun. All the shop keepers dress up and have a 'theme' for their shop, from a movie to a year in history to famous people, even a christmas in July theme. I ended up going CRAZY and shopping up a storm. I hit the surf shops for Cody and Joel and picked up some hoodies, board shorts, t shirts and going out shirts.

For me I picked up some bargins. I got a few dressy tops for a ridiculous 10 buck each reduced from $49 and a summer dress which is nice and flowy and great for summer- so looknig forward to summer again at the beach, a bit different than sitting at westmead.

I also got my fav perfume. Its the DKNY delicious green apple one. So yummy, but wait for it, I got 4 lots for 49 bucks, yep the real deal for a third of the price. they are normally about $99 each, saved a mint and am so happy. I picked up a few other bits and pieces like a little money box for Andy with his name on it, a broncos clock for Joel to go with his birthday presents and a broncos wallet. A filo frame thingy that was $5, it basically hold the kids art works and stuff and you can swap them around and store them at the back of the frame.

So all in all it was a pretty good day shopping but thats not all my biggest purchase was a

CARAVAN!!!!!!!

I pick it up on thursday but dont get too excited for me, its an old one and we are using it as a bedroom for Cody. Saves extending to the house, its on wheels so no council approval needed...YAY

Journal Update

I haven't done a proper journal update since Andy's birth story so I thought I'd update whats been happening in my life.

Im going to be an Aunty again. Yep. Both my brothers partners are expecting baby's.

Adams baby is due on the 14th of January 2009. This is his first baby. They have been trying for years with no luck so its great news for them to finally have a baby. Adam will make a great dad, he is great with all his nephews especially his special bond with Cody and Joel. Its so cute when he rings up and talks about baby stuff. He even went to the parents and baby's expo and found the new Modern Coth Nappys which he thought were very cool. He was so surprised at the cost of prams, cots etc- welcome to my world. This is only the beginning hahahaha.

Nathan's baby is due at the same time. This will be his 4th baby. He has Hayley who is 8yrs old, Oskar is 4 yrs old, his step daughter Danni is 3yrs old and now this one. My guess it will come early, Rachel was very sick with her other pregnancies so Im thinking it will be here before christmas. Nathan has a cool job, one that he enjoys, I'm really proud of him as he has been a very hard worker since he was 16yrs old and has never been without a job. This job even sees him going overseas.
My MS- I hate the fact that I now have this label. Ive started my injections which I have once a week and they make me feel very sick the day I have them. Its horrible but I guess Ive gotta do what Ive gotta do. My eye sight started to go on me the other week, not a good sign, its ok now thank goodness. Other than that it affects my legs and arms and I hate the pins and needles but its manageable. I've joined the local MS support group which is a fantastic little group of people. I look forward to going once a month just for the social outlet. Im also getting someone to come in and help me with stuff around the house which is a huge relief. It means I can concentrate on mummy duties.

My boys- Cody and Joel just got their school reports back. Boys are so difficult, Cody had a good report, he just needs to put in more than 50%, Joel OMG needs extra help. We have decided to swap schools as his current school wasnt the best option for him and the 100km's a day to take him to school was getting too much. So now he will go to the little seaside school up the road. Its new, the prinicpal seems to be great and the kids there seem nice too.

JOshua turns three next month, wow time flys. His latest saying is 'What the hell' I think he got this from his older brothers. We are having a pirate party for him with a petting zoo if we can get one to come out. Im so excited. Christmas and birthdays are my favourite times and I always put in alot of effort.

LIttle Andy is 10 weeks old this thursday- another one that is growing up way to quick. Its so sad, they dont stay babys for long.

KIds Galore

Hayley and Oskar on the swings
Joshua showing me how he jumps on the new trampoline

Cute little Danni- Nathans step daughter

Big Boy Oskar

This is Nathans two children Hayley and Oskar.

We had a visit from Nathan and Co today. It was a lovely sunny winters day so everyone was outside running around and testing out our new trampoline. I went to the K mart sales last week and decided to pick up this massive trampoline for the boys birthdays next month, when we got it home we decided to put it up and use it. Such a good thing to buy, all three boys have been outside everyday jumping and playing on it. Its so cute watching Josh try to copy his older brothers.

My breastfriend

My little man is no longer breastfed. Due to my MS medications I've had to stop breastfeeding. It was such a lovely time and Im so sad its over already.

Presenting.....My niece or nephew

Adam and Sarah had their first ultrasound this week and I can tell they are really excited cause we all got the ultrasound piccies emailed to us. I was secretly hoping it would be twins as payback to Adam but its only one baby. Just as well. Im hoping for a girl but as a wild guess I'm saying its a boy.

My Vege Patch

A few months ago I started a vege patch but thought I'd killed all my beautiful veges, the other day I was walking around the gardens and came across my dead vege patch that had started to grow again.

I found strawberrys, cauliflower, carrots, onions, spring onions, and lots more, so the last couple of days have seen me in my vege patch mulching, replanting and weeding my garden.

Can't wait to see it in a fewweeks time.