Home is where the heart is

Trudy Trike and rainbow socks

2010-10-23T19:04:00.006+11:00

So I went out for a ride on Trudy today to the local store for some groceries.
I had many people toot their horns and make comments about my cool wheels. Surprisingly they were all from men LOL even some young laddies said they want trikes now.
It may have been my awesome rainbow socks drawing attention though as they are very eye catching LOL

So I am very unfit and was huffing and puffing on the way home with my basket full of groceries. My back was aching, the tops of my legs, my chest was tight and my ARSE!!!

I guess the main thing is I saved at least $4 on petrol taking her out. Every time I tough it out I save more money. So frugal is I.
Oh and and I'm awesomely cool :-P

I want to ride my tricycle

2010-10-21T13:37:00.002+11:00

I'm going to be a coolest Mumma in town soon. Well I'll think I'm cool, everyone else will just laugh at me LOL
The benefits are, exercise, saving petrol but most of all, being uber awesome!!!

I'm so excited.

Been a while

2010-07-25T12:49:00.001+10:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in so long, I've been too busy deleting Asian porn spam from the comments in my last post.
Which words attracts them do you think... Body or Bushes? LOL

The body in the bushes

2009-11-25T22:50:00.007+11:00

Jessica (Miss 18) went for a walk before dinner as she usually does. She strolled through the bush/reserve at the end of the street and out the other side to a curvy street with beautiful mansions, but also reminiscence of drugs and parties at the start of the street where hoods come in their cars and hang out.
Rubbish everywhere from fast food joints, broken beer bottles and smoke butts everywhere.
She walked along the side of the road like she always does, admiring the beautiful houses, dreaming about living in one.. passing the reception center where she imagines having her own wedding reception at...
suddenly she is struck by this terrible stench. It's like garbage at first, so she keeps walking, thinking it's coming from the bins that she sees tucked away behind a fence of the reception place.
As she keeps walking, gusts of wind blows a stronger scent which she has never smelled before. She gets an eerie feeling when she sees drag marks in the dirt leading to bushes. She looks into the bushes and the smell is even stronger now.. so strong she dry heaves.

She rushes home and with images of dead bodies, wondering if someone was murdered by the drunken louts who left their mark down the end of the street.
When she tells me what she saw and smelled, she seemed so freaked out that I thought I would put her mind at ease and go back there with her.
I was sure at the worst, it would be a dead animal that may have been dragged off the road and hidden.

So heading through the bush and out the other side with Jessica leading the way, I enter the street and see the empty bottles and cans and rubbish. There are no cars around.. no people, just huge mansions that you would see in Hollywood. Maybe someone in the Mafia owns one of these houses.. I giggle at myself.. as if.
Then I get a slight change in the air.. a scent that is strange, but not like a dead animal.. or maybe it is, but I am so far away from the spot, that it's mixing with other smells, stopping me from making out exactly what it is.
I keep walking, the smell gets stronger and stronger.. every time a gust of wind passes it's stronger again..
Eventually we came to the bushy area with spiky twigs and teeny white flowers. It's dense and the smell is now powerful. I am dry heaving, it's got to be a dead something. At first I wonder if there is something dead in the drain, which is situated right in front of the bush. I try to look inside but it's too dark and there is no way I can lift the concrete slab. So I focus back to the bush and decide to pull the shrub open and peer through. I get images in my head.. the smell is making me see corpses. I truly start to believe that I will find a dead body. I walk along the edge of the shrub and every 2 feet, I pull the shrub open and look inside. I get to one section and with dread pull open the shrub.. a swarm of flies fly out and surround me. The smell is so heavy.. I see a mound. What is it? I look closer by bending my body forward and leaning in to the bush. I don't want to step inside. I am over come with fear and dread and a sick feeling.
The mound is large.. could easily be a body. It's long and wide and covered with dirt and twigs and flies.
I turn to Jessica and say.. I think you are right Jessica. This smell reminds me of death. There is something in there.
I have brought the cell phone just in case. I dial 000 wondering if that will work.. I think there may be a different number to ring from a cell....
someone answers
Emergency police fire or Ambulance?

Police please.

The call gets transferred and the operator says some code thing to someone else.. the other person speaks to me
Police, where is your emergency?
What State and town?

I tell her

What is your emergency?

I think I have found a dead body

Ok miss, can you give me your exact location?

I didn't know the name of the street and it was a very very long street and I didn't want to walk off on Jessica, but didn't want to lose the spot with the mound.
I tell her it's the street across from where the Steiner school is.
She says she can only see 1 school on the main road on her map.. The Basin Primary.

No I say, closer to Canterbury Rd.. it's called Ghilgai. There is a street across from it.. we are on that street..

Oh.. found it.. you are on Taninbomb Crescent (something like that). How far down are you?

In the middle at the bend.

Do you think it's male or female?

I don't know.. I don't even know if it's a body.. it's buried and stinks and is in bushes.

I start to dry heave and another gust of wind blows across.

hang tight Miss.. police are on their way. Don't touch anything.. it may ruin a crime scene.

I won't touch anything.. please hurry up, I don't want to be here.

Jessica and I wait across the road opposite the bush in an attempt to get away from the smell. We can't.. it's over powering.. We are both pinching our noses.. we let go occasionally and then dry heave.

I can't believe this is happening.. I'm a bit excited.. ok I am a LOT excited.. but am scared.. what if it's a child? What if the guy who just drove past and pulled into the long drive way at the mansion where the bush is located.. who just looked straight us, is a murderer?

I don't want to walk up to the house.. I just stay put.

I am standing next to Jessica,with pinched noses we are chatting about how cool and creepy this entire thing is.
I look at my phone.. I try to get on to the internet and tell my friends what is happening.. I am too shaky... bloody touch screen...arghhh..

I walk back over to the bush.. this is all just too out there.. it has to be my imagination running over time.. Jessica puts weird shit in my head..
I lean into the bush again.. mound is still there.. I stare at it a bit.. it's creepy and still.. and deliberately covered up... it's a body for sure...
I go to stand up.. the flowery bush brushes across my face.. the flowers either don't smell or... I wonder... I go and grab some of the bush and put my nose to the tiny white flowers.. they are firm and scratchy...
I see a police car out of the corner of my eye.

I step out to the road and wave them down. A male and female get out. What have you found?
Something in the bushes.. I point..
Can you smell that?

No they both say..

Jessica and I look at each other gobmsacked. We have been dry heaving.. but the police can't smell it. They have GOT to be kidding me.

They look in the bush the same way as me. The male says yep.. looks like one.. call back up.

Jessica and I look at each other. Excited.. not scared anymore because the police are here. We look on like we are watching an American cop mystery show like.. Law and Order or whatever.
Within 10 seconds another police car comes speeding down the road behind the other one. Two more police get out. One grey haired large man carries some metal stick thing.. with a hook.
He hands it to the other guy..
The woman gloves up.

The suspense is making my heart race.. I think I am smiling... I shouldn't be though.. but it's way cool.. I'm a sicko...
I ask the older guy if he can smell the stench.. wondering if Jessica and I are the only ones..
He said yes.. it smells like...
before he finished his sentence another cop who had quickly broken through the bushes and had been smashing and messing up the mound said.... ants nest.... huge one at that.
They all seemed really bummed.. as bummed as me.
But what is that smell?
The older cop says.. well see that bush?
Yeh...
There is one at my kids school.. we often wonder if there is something dead in that too.. they don't smell very pleasant.

I swear my face was burning I was so flushed with embarrassment.
I apologised and they were fine with it. They were glad I called.. the older guy said most of the time people just get scared and run off.
He said we did good.
I said, good.. thanks.. we are going to go home now..
Jessica and I both walked off... really really fast.. laughing our arses off..

We kept getting wafts of that smell every now and again.. we'd look over and see the same bloody bush.. the smell was those horrid little flowers in a type of shrub spread throughout the reserve.

Far out.. what an ordeal.. I wish we could have at least found a dead wombat.. road kill would have been better than a an ants nest and funky smelling flower.

The end

My hypothesis on why women shave their armpits and legs

2009-09-27T04:12:00.006+10:00

I am doing an essay on feminism and have gone searching for other peoples views on why women in Western cultures shave their legs and armpits.
I have only found one hypothesis that matches my own (so far) which is really frustrating, as it wasn't from a reliable source (or one that would count in the eyes of the university), so I can't back up my own theory in my essay.

I will keep searching and perhaps someone reading this post my already know where this is written in stone.
So here it goes:

Men who reach puberty show as much by their facial and body hair. It gives them a sense of power over boys. They become Men and (in their eyes) protectors of meek frilly girls and women.
To symbolise the femininity of women as vulnerable and in need of a mans protection and power, men prefer a shaven woman which is prepubescent and child like in appearance. Like a boy, a shaven or feminine person is less powerful. I suppose women also subconsciously (those who believe they need to protection of a man even though evolution and changes in society have removed the need for large strong and violent men to protect women and children from wild beasts wanting to enter their caves), want to appear younger and more vulnerable to attract men to them.
I guess this means that hairy feminists who are strong and powerful make men feel insignificant or inadequate. What will they do with all of that testosterone if women are no longer desirable. Hairy women are too masculine you see. They must all be lesbians and man haters. They deliberately stay natural (yes nature intended for grown women to have body hair shock horror surprise surprise) just because they don't want to attract the opposite sex LOL this is going to halt reproduction if women gain equality. Shit.. the world will be doomed I say DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!
So we must, for the benefit of male domination over how women should look and act and for the continuity of society SHAVE!!!!

Anyone who disagrees is a man hater. Ask any Man.. they should know.. they know everything about women, heck we're not even allowed to birth without a mans guidance anymore. LOL

*disclaimer*
This post is packed full of sarcasm.. I don't think the world is doomed if women stop shaving and I don't believe this theory applies to modern society. I am just talking about the origins of women shaving.

Aiden's 4th birthday party

2009-09-19T23:52:00.007+10:00

Aiden's birthday is today. We just had a little party with the family.
My Mum and Stepfather are overseas but we had Jon's parents, my sister inlaw (Aunty Karen), Maria and Necia over for lunch and to share some icecream cake.
I didn't have time to make a cake, so cheated and bought him one from our local ice-cream shop.
Although I am not a fan of superhero's, Aiden had been influenced somewhere and is infatuated by them. He's been wearing Spiderman and Batman costumes daily for a year now.
So, his cake had Spiderman on it.
When I picked it up from the shop, I was surprised to see how small it was. I paid $31 for it so expected it would atleast feed 12 of us, but when I got it, it looked like it wouldn't even feed 5 people.
So, I quickly slapped up 9 cupcakes just as everyone was arriving for lunch. They were iced and ready to eat by the time the candles were lit of the birthday cake, so it was great timing.
Turns out we have some cake left over in the freezer LOL

Aiden got some lovely pink plastic toys for his birthday. I have had so many comments over his presents being pink.. but as I keep stating.. pink is a colour not a gender and Aiden's penis isn't going to fall off if he plays with pink toys.
It's safe I promise.. he's been playing with his toys all day and I just checked.. penis is still attached.

The plastic..well I don't usually do plastic, but these things were just too awesome to pass up. He got the Aldi white goods which he has been asking for for months.
He now has a microwave, dishwasher, fridge, clothes dryer, Kenwood mixer and kitchen sink, complete with sounds and lights LOL

I like how he has placed each item next to the real thing. The dryer in the laundry, the microwave next to mine, the mixer on the kitchen bench where I normally use it, the sink and dishwasher and fridge on the floor of the kitchen infront of my sink.
I thought he would place it all in his cubby house but he prefers to 24 hour access to his toys so they stay in the house.

Enjoy the photos!!!!

For Karisma

2009-09-12T22:13:00.005+10:00

I have been so busy with studies that I haven't had much spare time to blog, but seeing as Karisma is missing me, I felt obliged to post tonight LOL

So.. studies seem to be going well. I am on campus now which I totally love. I feel like a kid again.
I'm doing 4 units this semester:
Stats and research
Aboriginal Studies
Sociology
research communications.

Most of the other students have dropped a unit or two because the workload is full on, especially if you have a job or family. I have considered doing the same, but am wanting to finish my studies before I turn 70 LOL
I seem to be managing ok so far, but exams haven't started yet. I do ok with Essays but exams give me anxiety. Every week I have a test for atleast one of my units anyway, in preparation for the real thing. I'm getting above 80% in all of those.
Last night I sent in an Essay for research communications and Monday I am getting the results for my sociology essay.

I've been having a hard time with Breeze the last couple of weeks figuring out what action to take in regards to school. She can't stay at home on her own and I am not quitting uni. Call me selfish, but I am 35 and am finally doing something in my life that makes me feel worthy. I'm not giving that up. Breeze needs to learn how to socialize anyway and she can't do that hiding herself away at home (which is what she wants to do).
I had her assessed at a child and adolescent mental health service and they say she is still emotionally 3 years old. It's so true.. even tonight after going to Hungry Jacks for dinner (a once in a blue moon treat) she cried over not getting the toy she wanted and then when she got her toy she named it and played with it like a toddler. She will be 12 in February.
Studying is my respite. I have had a 3 year old for nearly 12 years. I have other children who need me also, and I am going to snap if I have to revolve my entire life around struggling to cope with them. They are the majority of my life and always will be most important, but I can't completely deprive myself for them anymore.
Like they say.. happy mother happy child... well in some aspects LOL

So until the end of the term (which is less than two weeks away anyway) Breeze is staying at the Steiner school. I nearly pulled her out and sent her mainstream but then thought harder about it. They know how to bully more in State schools. They are better at it and they will be strangers. Atleast the kids at Steiner know Breeze now.
She thinks that she will waltz in and be welcomed and all will be perfect.
So.. her teacher has made a deal with her. if she doesn't want to go into class she doesn't have to. She can go and help the founders teacher look after the little kiddies or she can go and hang out with her PE teacher.
Last week actually went really well. She hung out with the Founders on Monday and half of Tuesday but for the rest of the week was happy to stay in her own class.
She came home with her face painted on Thursday and Friday and when I asked her who did it, she said that kids in her class did. I said.. well see.. they are playing with you.. that's progress.
She said.. well they have to be nice or they will get into trouble.
Poor kid's self esteem is crushed :0(

So, on a happier note.. Aiden will be 4 in a week!!! My baby is no longer a baby *sobs*. I have a few prezzies stashed away in the shed. We aren't into plastic toys normally, but we couldn't resist the Aldi toy white goods. We got him a microwave, dishwasher, fridge, sink, BBQ, Vaccuum, clothes washer and a Kenwood. The play room is going to be totally decked out. I can't wait to play with his toys.. oh.. um.. I can't wait to give Aiden his toys LOL

No photos this week as the camera needs charging.

Aiden's new haircut

2009-07-17T16:46:00.003+10:00

So Aiden finally allowed me to cut his hair today.
I sat him in a bar stool and it was the perfect height, but a swivel seat. It was quite hilarious chasing the chair in circles while cutting but Aiden enjoyed himself.
It will take a bit of getting used to his new look since his hair has been long for nearly 2 years now.

He's handsome no matter how he wears his there though ♥

Baking

2009-07-17T16:34:00.004+10:00

So the first batch of cupcakes I did, I wanted to make them bright pink so used beetroot. They looked great but tasted..well.. bettrooty LOL
The kids weren't too thrilled.

So a few days later I had to bake something for Skye's class as they were having a market day. I went with just vanilla this time and made 20. The kids ate 5 that night and the next day at the market they sold out in 5 minutes LOL the kids were bummed they missed out at school.
Ah well, it's an easy recipe so I'll just make some more.
I went with an egg free recipe incase someone at the school had an egg allergy.. but it still had all the other stuff...wheat, gluten, sugar and dairy..ah well.
I used banana as the egg alternative and they tasted great, but a slightly stickier heavier texture.

Messing about

2009-06-03T23:11:00.007+10:00

I found this funny site that you upload photo's on and mess with them.
I've had so much fun with it and I thought I would share my work rofl

So guess which one looks most like me haha

This is one I did of Breeze

Isn't the resemblance uncanny!!! LOL

Dolly (aka Ollie)

2009-05-31T18:14:00.003+10:00

Aiden is still calling Ollie Dolly after 8 months and it's finally rubbed off on me.
So here is a nice photo I took of DOLLY the other day.

and one of Dolly, me and Aiden

100% on an assignment

2009-05-31T18:10:00.004+10:00

I can't believe I actually got 100% for developmental psychology.
I was joking when I said I was aiming for 100% after I got 92% for the previous one, so nearly fell off my chair when it actually happened.

I only got 70% for the other module I was doing though. I'm not sure if the teacher was a hard arse, or if I didn't apply myself as much as I did for dv psych. Anyway, atleast I got a credit.. I know of a few people who have had to re submit.

Apparently no-one has EVER gotten 100% in the whole college other than me, so my crappy 70% should ignored and my focus should be staying on my achievement of the highest mark in ACAP history LOL

My camera is fixed!!!

2009-05-31T17:57:00.004+10:00

My camera miraculously fixed itself so I have lots of photos to share.
Aiden went to the Wiggles concert last Wednesday. I hate driving in the city and parking is a nightmare. I arrived and hour an a half early to get a spot, but still drove around for half an hour trying to find one.
I was in tears worried he would miss out, but just as soon as the water works started, someone pulled out of a spot.

He was in absolute awe over the Wiggles being on stage.. so much so that he couldn't even bring himself to dance like the rest of the kids. He just stood and stared at the stage and occasionally looked back at me with a smile and pointed at the stage to show me Dorothy, Henry and Captain Feathersword.

After the show we went to the stall they had set up and I promised him he could have 1 piece of memorabilia. He asked for a balloon, but when they told me the price ($20) I encouraged him to get something he could keep rather than something that would deflate or pop.

He got a Sam (the yellow Wiggle) plush toy for $16 and a pair of Wags the dog ears for $6. Much better value I think haha

When we got home he played with his new Wiggles toys and then fell asleep on the couch at 4pm and stayed asleep till 7am the next morning.

The next day he decided to practice playing some tunes in his guitar. Of course it was Wiggles all the way LOL

Broken camera and good news on the study front

2009-05-03T23:51:00.002+10:00

I am so bummed that my camera has broken. It's a really good quality one also, so I am still deciding on replacing it with a cheaper one or having it repaired. I will need to do something soon though because I keep missing out on capturing so many precious moments.

On to my good news!!!
I got the results of one of my assignments the other day and was stunned to see a score of 92%.
The course is so difficult and intense so I was aiming just to at least pass each module and get credits or distinctions for a confidence or ego boost, but I never expected a High Distinction. Not only was it a HD but it was almost a perfect score!!!
If only I didn't make those 3 little typo's. Ah well.. I don't want to aim for perfect scores now or else I will be setting myself up to either fail, or loosing sight of the main objective of doing the degree in the first place, which is to learn and to get a certificate which allows me to be a practicing therapist.
If I focus too much on my actual mark it will turn into silly game over achievement.
Besides, I am still doubting my abilities... perhaps the educator was just an easy marker.. maybe I was just knowledgeable in that particular subject..
All I know is that since receiving that score, I have re worded my next assignment 50 times, stared at it for several hours looking for silly insignificant typo's in the hope that I can get 1 extra mark.. arghhh... why can't I just be satisfied with passes? The aim for perfect scores is driving me bonkers!!!

Homebirth and Freebirth

2009-04-17T16:32:00.004+10:00

In the past week or so I have had people ask me if my views on homebirth or shall I be more to the point, ‘freebirth’ had changed after one of the leading advocates of homebirth, Janet Fraser, lost her baby in her home at the end of March.
I have felt a little reluctant to post my views before now because of the fact that Janet and I haven’t seen “eye to eye” and I didn’t want this to be the next part of the Janet and Genie ‘saga’, but after reading so many misleading reports and article’s insinuating that Janet was somehow responsible for her daughters death, I felt compelled to answer some of the questions that I have seen asked and debated about, over the past few weeks.. Not only in defense of Janet, but in defense of the women of Australia, who are at risk of losing their right to protect themselves and their babies well being, because of misleading information and tripe sprawled over the internet.

Some of the questions asked are:
Does a death resulting after a freebirth amount to neglect and a criminal offense?
Has Janet now changed her stance on freebirth?
Does Janet feel responsible for her child’s death?
Would the baby have survived if there was a midwife present?
Is it safer to birth in hospital?
Are women who choose to birth at home, looking to fill their ego at the expense of their child’s health and well being?

The fact that Janet hasn’t even made a public statement about the events of the birth or how she feels about it, means that any opinions are just assumptions. No one knows how she feels, and no-one knows exactly what happened. I can tell you what I DO know and that is the Herald Sun’s statement that she had laboured for 5 days prior to her daughters death, is utter bullshit!!!
To those who have been in the very active phase of labour, imagine going through that for 5 days. It’s not possible. Janet is a human being, not a superhero with superhuman powers. Do you really think ANYONE would be able to do that???
Time to flick that reality switch people.
Anyone who knows anything about the birthing process knows there are phases of labour. Even if she had been labouring for 5 days (which I know she hadn’t) the first few days would have been slow and gentle. Contractions far apart, not overwhelmingly painful and plenty of opportunity to rest, eat and keep up the fluid.
People who choose to birth in hospital go through this also. They have what are called “false alarms” in the days leading up to the birth. They have regular contractions and head off to the hospital to be greeted by staff that often belittle them, make them feel like they are idiots and send them home till the “real thing” starts. The fact is they ARE in labour and there’s nothing false about it, but the hospitals don’t have the time or resources to keep labouring women in the birth suites for days at a time. This is also why when people are in hospital their labours go by the clock, if they go for too long for the hospitals ability to accommodate they rush things along.
Should have a lengthy labour concerned Janet?
Why would it? She had a lengthy labour with her other children too who are both live and well.. one of who was born at home in water. So the assumption made that a lengthy labour caused her baby to die is more than just misleading but is also ridiculous.
In most cases babies who die before, during or shortly after birth show no signs as to the cause. Usually not even an autopsy will determine the cause of death. So how on EARTH do people suddenly become enlightened as to how this baby died???
I have heard of some cases of babies born in hospitals who have died and there has been obvious causes, like broken necks from forceps deliveries or babies crushed to death from the drugs used for induction being on too high making the contractions too forceful.. Two of which are causes that CAN’T happen at home.
But people (including unborn babies and newly born babies) do suddenly die. It happens anywhere to anyone. Heart’s just stop beating, people just stop breathing. Should we be walking around with oxygen tanks and resuscitation trolleys for just in case this happens to someone we are around? Ok, so what if a midwife was able to revive her baby? Good!!! how lucky for those circumstances.
I stood on a chair to reach a vase from the top of my fridge a few weeks ago and the chair gave way. I fell onto my husband who just so happened to be next to the chair. He caught me and I wasn’t injured. It was LUCK!!! Should I always make sure I never stand on a chair unless someone is there ready to catch me?
I may slip when I mop the floor, so maybe I should call an ambulance to be on standby for incase I slip and break my ankle.
Sounds hyper vigilant and over the top hey? Well it is!!! These incidences happen OFTEN they aren’t rare at all, but people continue to stand on chairs and mop floors on their own everyday.
If a person is as informed about pregnancy, labour and birth as Janet is, then they know what to watch out for and know when to call for help. Janet birthed with precaution previously and birthed without intervention the second time around, so the faith that she has in her ability to do it without a midwife is founded.
The lengthy labour was normal to her. It didn’t kill her other children, so why should have she become concerned with her body behaving in a predictable normal way this time?
So, if a midwife was there, what would have she been able to do to save the baby? During the labour she may use a Doppler to check the fetal heart rate. So if she picks up nothing, then what? The outcome would have been the same. What happens if the heart rate was perfect up until the moment of birth? There’s no time to intervene, she would have to wait for the baby to be born and try to revive her. In most cases the chances of reviving a baby (or anybody) after their heart has stopped is very low, especially with just oxygen on hand and knowledge of CPR. Who’s to say that Janet didn’t know CPR herself anyway? I would assume that anyone who knows so much about the body would know first aid.
Let me tell you a story about the Doppler…
I attended a hospital birth around 9 years ago. The women was labouring beautifully and the only interventions happening were the occasional checks of the baby’s heart rate, by the midwife, with a hand held Doppler. The baby began to crown and inbetween contractions the midwife checked the heart rate and the heart rate she picked up suddenly was very slow. She went into panic mode and pulled out the episiotomy tray and then ran out of the room to get the resuscitation trolley and back up.
While she was gone, I whispered quietly to the Mum “I think it’s time you had your baby now”. So, she did!!! She pushed, tore and birthed a beautiful, pink, healthy, crying little girl before the midwife had the chance to even return.
I can assure you of this.. if the baby’s heart had really slowed so much and she was in such dire distress, a change of environment alone would not have been sufficient enough to revive her.
The fact is, there was nothing wrong with the baby at all. The midwife had accidentally picked up the mothers pulse by mistake and it was slow because she had been baring down. Pushing slows the heart rate.. it’s a known fact.
What would have been the outcome for this mother and baby had the midwife made this mistake hours earlier?
I can tell you exactly what would have happened, because it happens everyday. There would have been panic and she would have been whisked away for a c-section and the baby would have been born normal, but the obstetrician would have claimed to have saved the baby’s life and Mum would have been ever so grateful.
She probably would be so traumatized by the near death of her baby because of her malfunctioning uterus, that she would have booked in for an elective c-section the next time around.
The breastfeeding relationship she had with her baby would have been in jeopardy and she would have been at risk of infection from major surgery. But hey.. c-sections are the safe option.. it doesn’t matter if the baby misses out on the chemicals they get in order to bond effectively and feed effectively during labour, all that counts is that the baby is born alive… right? What about if a baby can be born safely AND have the best opportunity for a breastfeeding relationship and close bond too? Would that be even better?
I won’t go into the debate about why natural births are better for both mother AND baby, because it’s been proven and spoken about to death. We all know that to achieve the best possible chance of wellbeing for mother AND infant is through a low intervention birth and the best chance of getting that is at home.
So the insinuation that women choose to birth at home to feed their own ego at the expense of their child is a crock.
Women choose to homebirth with their baby’s best interest at heart.
They do it FOR the baby, not in spite of the baby. Yes they want to feel empowered and blissed out, but the lack of trauma and the satisfaction a mother gets after a natural birth all benefits the baby too. A mother’s health and well being has a HUGE impact on the baby. So why should we ignore the interest and wellbeing of the mother?

I came across a story a few days ago about a women who’s baby died in a hospital in WA. She was outraged at her treatment at the hospital and started a facebook group to bring awareness to others.
I still don’t know the exact message she intended to send, but I don’t believe she was blaming the hospital for the death of her baby.. although perhaps she was.. all I managed to pick up as a definite was that she was humiliated during her labour, ignored, had someone force her leg over her head and push on her abdomen, forcing her stuck baby into her pelvis and then had that person yell at her when she could no longer bare the pain and pushed him away. Of course as soon as she pushed him out of the way and changed positions instinctively, her baby came out. The baby’s heart rate was fine 10 seconds before he was born, so it stopped during the moment he emerged or very shortly after.. nevertheless they had all the fancy equipment around and worked on him for 20 minutes and he died. That just goes to show that baby’s can die in the hospital suddenly and just because they have the equipment to revive the baby, doesn’t mean that the luck to save him, is on his side.
It all boils down to luck. Unfortunately for this baby and for Janet’s baby, luck wasn’t on their side.
Would the treatment this women received be likened to rape?
Well let me put it this way.. I can’t see her returning for a repeat performance. She has 2 options to prevent it happening again.. one is an elective c-section, the other is a HBAC. Atleast for now, women have the ability and right to that choice.

What’s even more unfortunate in the case of Janet, is that there is now an even higher threat to women losing their legal right to choose a homebirth. This isn’t because the baby has become a statistic, this is because of the irony of it all. Someone who became so public and well known for her advocacy on women’s rights to birth at home, out of some crazy fluke, lost her baby during childbirth.
This reminds me of Hectar the Cat. He was the mascot for pedestrian crossings in Australia. While filming his last TV commercial, he was struck down by a car at the pedestrian crossing and killed.
Ironic? Hell yeh.. but do people now avoid pedestrian crossings?
No –way!! Do people still occasionally not have luck on their side and get killed on them? Too right they do!!!
There’s certainly no threat to our right to use crossings either, but in regards to homebirth., the threat is there.

Would Janet feel responsible for the death of her baby?
I bloody well hope not!!! It’s not uncommon for a mother to feel a sense of guilt or blame themselves when their child dies, no matter what the circumstances are, so the possibility is there.
What sort of person would wish that burden on her anyway?
It made me sick to see so many articles and blog posts with the sniggering “haha I told you so” attitudes and the comments of how negligent Janet is and how she will carry this guilt for the rest of her life.
GUILT FOR WHAT???? She didn’t cause her baby’s death and she didn’t prevent her baby from having the chance of life either.
It was bad luck, ironic, and bloody tragic but it wasn’t ANYONE’S FAULT!!!

Should her views on freebirth be different now?
I certainly hope not. There is a reason why she is well known.
Janet has gathered more evidence, information, support and awareness for women and their rights than anyone else I know of.
She doesn’t do it to gain a profit and she doesn’t do it to win any sort of popularity contest either. She has never let any misinformed or oppressive twat shut her up in the past so I doubt she will let that happen now.
She knows why she chose to freebirth it was an informed decision with her and her baby’s best interest at heart. She advocates FOR women and children not against them.
I hope when she has given herself enough time to grieve, that she goes back to doing what she does best. It’s because of Janet and other advocates of homebirth that more and more Australian women are achieving Joyous births, having less cases of PTSD, having healthier happier babies and have gotten back their faith in the ability of their bodies to do what nature intended.. how is that a bad thing?

The 10 Lemonade award bloggers

2009-02-16T14:56:00.009+11:00

It is an award for bloggers with great attitude and gratitude

Ok I have chosen 10 people
here's the list

Louise The Fig Tree

artemis-of-the-eucalypts Purple pathways

Ariad rainbow Love Farm

Karisma Karisma and kids

Vallyspirte Froggy pocket

Currawong Views from my tree

Sazz All that Sazz

Majikfaerie

Greendraggon Consensual Purification

and

last but not least

Hippymummy Happy Hippy Madhouse

Ok,
I need to then notify them all somehow.

yay I think the links work now!!!

Lemonade award

2009-02-15T09:27:00.006+11:00

Lemonade Award

Made with organic unwaxed lemons, agave syrup and fresh mountain spring water for an unpolluted source (ha, like that exists anymore). Actually, you can hold the agave syrup, it tastes even better with just lemons and water.

I got an award wooohooo Thank you Lotusbirther for thinking of me when choosing your 10
and I finally worked out how to link to your blog yipeee LOL

Can you believe this heat!??!?

2009-01-29T20:41:00.002+11:00

Well I am happy to announce that, other than being heat affected, I feel pretty much back to normal *squee*
I feel calmer, happier, can think more clearly (in temps below 47 degrees LOL ) and I haven't had a seizure in a week.. maybe more than that.
I was a bit of a dare devil and cut out the keppra on day two of the 8 of weaning, but it has proven to be a good move. How can the doctors honestly believe someone would put a pill in their mouth when they know that pill is effecting them so badly.
This pill is making me want to kill myself..oooo... can't wait to pop it *snort*

Anyway, I can move on now and pretend nothing happened.
Just thought I would update. My next post will include pretty pics and happy tales haha

A better day

2009-01-26T22:20:00.002+11:00

I cheated on my drug weaning and it seems to have improved my physical state already.
I have increased the dilantin faster and cut down the Keppra faster, so my seizures "should" still be controlled.

Anyway, I have been feeling flat as usual, but I managed to get out of the house and take the kids to get fish and chips for lunch and then to see a band, took them to the park, then we went to the pancake palour (nom nom) and then I walked the dog for an hour to try and burn off the calories from lunch and dinner LOL

I then came home and did a bit of cleaning, including totally cleaning out the bird cage.
I did more today (sober) than I have done in 3 weeks!!!

Now I just have to keep the momentum up. Having the Wii break is a bit of a bummer, because I really want to excersize as much as possible to heal faster. Hopefully it can be repaired tomorrow.

Thanks again to all my dear friends who have offered so much support over the past few weeks *hugs* it has helped more than you can imagin.

Psychological hiccup

2009-01-25T20:41:00.003+11:00

The past week has been a real doozy.
Other than feeling so lethargic that I can't get out of bed for more than an hour at a time, I have become a totally different person.
I put the depression down to the fact that I felt incapable of looking after the kids and myself, but that doesn't explain the anger and frustration i am showing towards my family.
I broke up with Jon a few days ago and can't even work out if that's because I'm sick or because it's something that I really need to do.
I tell my kids to leave me alone all the time. I have no idea why I am so irritated by them so often. I want to be left alone, yet I want company. Maybe just someone to sit with me quietly and occasionaly make me laugh.. without expecting anything in return.
Yep I have become selfish, irrational, hostile, depressed and suicidal.
Yesterday while laying on the couch moaning at the fact that I was spending yet another day trying to gather energy to parent, clean, leave the house or anything at all, I said to Jon, there's something seriously wrong. I'm having weird thoughts and before starting this new medication, my mental state was fine.
I asked him to look up the side effects of the meds and this is what we found

Special warnings about Keppra

Especially during the first few weeks of treatment, Keppra sometimes triggers psychological problems, including psychosis, hallucinations, aggression, agitation, anger, hostility, irritability, anxiety, apathy, emotional instability, depression, and attempted suicide. These problems usually pass, but be sure to alert your doctor if you feel one developing; your doctor may have to discontinue the drug or change your dosage.

At the start of treatment, Keppra also can cause extreme drowsiness, unusual weakness, and coordination difficulties. Bring such symptoms to your doctor's attention. In a few patients, therapy must be stopped or reduced.

taken from here
http://www.healthsquare.com/newrx/kep1561.htm

but also seen on many other sites.
It explains everything. All the feelings and thoughts are because of Keppra. It was actually an instant relief knowing that it's all to do with a medication and not my actual mental health. It's great because all I have to do is stop taking the pills and I will get better.
The only catch is that if i cease taking them, I risk having seizures again.
side note: I have been seizure free for 5 days
So, I tried contacting the neurologist but because it's the long weekend, I couldn't get hold of him. I then called the nurse on call line and was told to go to the emergency department straight away (by this stage a rope with me hanging off it seemed like a pretty real option for me to take).
To make a long story short, they got hold of my neuro at the hospital and he said, yeh Keppra does that!!!
WTF nice if I had of been warned...
nevertheless,I am being weaned off them and put back on Dilantin. They say it will take a week to be back to normal (I won't be fully weaned for 8 days) and i just have to keep myself alive during that time and try not to be around the children alone too much as I am very snappy and they don't need that shit.
Of course, this makes me more depressed, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and I just have to keep reminding myself of this.
OK.. I reckon a caramel sundae may assist in my recovery LOL the kids agree!!!

I'm a zombie and I want to eat your brains

2009-01-15T10:31:00.002+11:00

These pills I'm on are making me into a zombie.
It's so frustrating trying to just get on with it when my body doesn't let me.
The girls are hardly home because I can't entertain them. My SIL has Skye at the moment.
She took her to the beach yesterday and hasn't brought her back yet. It's so hard not being the one having fun with the kids and it always being someone else.
Breeze is Miss popularity in the street this week so is hanging out at the neighbours houses all day everyday. Aiden is still home with me, but Jon is doing all the parenting. I can feel myself getting depressed, but that's just another thing to add to my health crisis, so I refuse to let it happen.
The fits are still happening but much less often an much shorter.. lasting around 30 seconds rather than over 4 minutes. The pneumonia isn't getting much better and I have lost my appetite. I'm still eating occasionaly but forcing it down so I don't get weaker than I already feel.
I just want all this to end. I have to get well or I'll go crazy.

8 days of hell

2009-01-13T08:53:00.005+11:00

I just got out of hospital yesterday and things are still a bit fuzzy, so I'm not sure if the events I am about to tell are all correct and in the right order, but I will do my best.

DAY 1

Last Sunday (I think it was the 4th of Jan) it was a nice hot sunny day and the lead singer of Jon's band (Hardcopy) Ken, and his missus came over with their little girl for a BBQ.
We were having a really nice time and the kids were playing outside and enjoying the spa at one stage.
We had lunch then got out the grog and started drinking. I had 2 drinks (Pulse) left over from new years eve, so I had those. They're 7% so around 2 standard drinks per can and I had 2.
Anyway, once I start drinking I usually want more, but of course there wasn't any and I couldn't drive because I felt I was already over the limit.
Jon's friends had a breathalizer so we all took turns and the only person under the limit was Jon, so he went and got more drinks.
I requested 4 more pulses.

So, we were drinking away talking about all sorts of stuff including some things that Ken and his chick have seen at work (they work in a hospital) which were pretty shocking but also funny. One things Ken mentioned was that there is this powder glue stuff used in ICU on patients to attach bags to their butts for when they poo LOL
He said that the powder burns so much that it can wake the dead. He said there was one patient who had been in a coma for weeks and not moved an inch, but when the butt powder was used she suddenly opened her eyes jerked in pain for a second and slipped back to nowhere land LOL
I was cracking up laughing when he was doing the visual actions to the entire scenario. He's such a funny bastard the Diva Kenneth.

So as we were getting drunker, we decided to play with the breathelizer. I was in competition with Shirralea to get the highest reading. She was sitting at .32 and I couldn't get over .29 but was giving it my best.
After I opened my last can of pulse and had one sip, things went weird.
OK, so I had 7 can's so equivalent to 14 standard drinks, which is more than I drink in an entire year LOL
Apparently I feel backwards off my chair and hit my head on the ground and started fitting. I was told it lasted a few minutes and I did recover, and was helped up and taken into the lounge to sleep it off.
I then fitted again but this time it went for 40 minutes and an ambo was called.
They gave me a jab of something and it stopped, but they took me to hospital anyway because I was so out of it.
I can't remember the ambos or the trip to the hospital, but I do remember waking up with a drip in my arm at a pricey private hospital.
The nurses said I was dehydrated which contributed to the seizure (hmmm I just drank 7 cans, yet I'm dehydrated) and to keep my arm still because it was slowing the drip.
I could tell they were agitated with me for the fact that i was drunk and they don't get many drunken people there because it's a posh private hospital dealing more with rich sick kids with tonsilitis or old farts with broken hips.
Anyway, I figured I'd sober up and will be back to normal so phoned Jon to come and get me. Thinking back I wonder how sober Jon was and wonder if it would have been better to call a taxi, but I wasn't thinking straight and being logical isn't a requirement after 14 standard alcoholic beverages and 2 fits LOL
So I got home and went to bed.

Day 2

I woke in the morning with Skye next to me in tears telling me how I had a fit in my sleep and it scared her. She was absolutely terrified the poor baby. She spent the next couple of hours following me around asking me if I was ok and begging me to go to take her medication. Skye has epilepsy so figured her pills would help me too, which is logical and I probably should have taken the advice of my very clever 7 year old than the one of my darling husband who after I had yet ANOTHER fit, told me that I wobbled and it was funny. That there's no way he's going through the drama of me being on hospital, so I was to just "get over it" before he had to go to work the next day.

I had 3 fits all up that day and was so worried about injuring myself but even more concerned with the trauma the kids were going thru seeing their mother fitting.
As it happens, someone was looking over me, because at around 4pm a social worker who I have never met, called me out of the blue.
She works for a local community service and was calling to get some information in regards to the big brother sister program I am trying to get Breeze into.
I told her that I was having fits and was really concerned but Jon didn't want me going to hospital.
She then offeed to come for a visit and try and change his mind.
She came over straight away and convinced him that it was a good idea and started making phone calls to get me into a private hospital with my own doctor.
He was away, so it turned out i had to go to a public hospital emergency department.
Jon took me and my friend from the Liberated learners forum came over to babysit the children.
I arrived at the hospital expecting a huge wait in the waiting room, but after telling the triage nurse what I was there for, I was taken straight to a cubical.
Jon and I were ok and were chatting and even laughing about some personal stuff that we always joke about.
He went to get a drink from a vending machine while a nurse came in and gave me a gown to dress into.
The next thing I knew, I was being pinned down by a heaps of strangers and a needle was being put into my foot. I was crying and trying to kick them off my foot because they were holding it so tight it felt like it was breaking. They told Jon to just reassure me things were going to be ok and that helped. It was nice having him kiss my face and speak to me so caringly. I don't think he ever has before.
The pain in my foot stopped and I was relieved. The next thing I remember was waking with my hand tied to the side rails of the bed with a tube down my throat, but stuff happened before then, which I can only relay from the words of Jon.

Before the needle was put in my foot I had had a seizure. While I was unconscious they inserted a line in my neck and stitched it on. For some reason they wanted another line in too so that's why they did my foot.. but I woke when they were inserting the foot bung, which I guess is better than waking while they were putting a central line in my neck OUCH!!!
Anyway, I had another fit after the foot one was in and they put medication thru it.
Jon told them I have a bad reaction to Clonazepam/Rivetrol (sp?) and said that if they give it to me I'll wake up confused and agitated. That was actually a smart move to tell them, as it prevented an entire scenario happening which happened around a year ago, where I almost ended up in a psych ward because of it.
They were giving me something else instead, but it wasn't stopping the fits properly.
Appparantly they became less violent and shorter but were still worrying to the hospital staff.
Jon went home to rescue my friend from the kids at around 10pm and left me fitting and being medicated with stuff which was making slip more amd more into nowhere land as time went on.

Day 3

At 3am Jon got a phone call from the hospital to tell him I had gone into a coma stopped breathing and that they had to tube me.
I'm not sure if I woke with the tube in or if it was an airway in my nose. I could feel something in my throat burning and choking me like I had swallowed a hose.
My hands were strapped to the side rails and I was desperately trying to get them free so I could remove whatever the thing was in my throat that was causing so much pain and discomfort. The reason why I don't know if it was the ventilator or an airway is because an airway goes in the nose and down the throat and you can speak with it in but the ventilator goes in the mouth and you can't speak at all.
I remember begging them to put me to sleep so i didn't have to feel the pain, seeing as they had strapped my hands so I couldn't remove it myself.
Either I was actually speaking or the nurse read my mind, because she said to me.. we are trying to put you to sleep, we are trying.. and she ran her hand thru my hair.. and seemed to be crying herself.
They put me under a general anesthetic and I stayed under for the next 2 days.

Day 5
I only had 1 dream while I was asleep, that I can remember. One of my favourite cyber friends had a vegie garden planted on a tree top. She was climbing up the tree with her children to harvest the vegies. I was on the ground looking up at them thinking that they were in heaven. That they were where I wanted to be, but shouldn't go because I would never come down.

I woke up with my hands strapped to the side rails again and the same pain in my throat. This time it was a different nurse and she was saying.. it's ok, we are taking the tube out now.. breath out.
The tube came out and I vomited and passed out.

Day 6
I woke up and was told I had been transferred to a different hospital to the one Jon took me to. The transfer happened on day 4, but of course I was unconscious so had no idea. I remember checking my bum for a bag thinking back to Kens story LOL I even had a bit of a giggle to myself wondering if I got the dreaded powder.
Anyway, they told me I could go to the general ward later that day as long as I improve.
I did, and was moved out of ICU.

Day 7

I saw my own private neurologist who diagnosed me with epilepsy nearly a year ago.
It was the first time I had seen him since being there this time.. but he said he saw me on day 4 and was really worried.
He told me the alcohol triggered the seizures again, which for the past 7 months had been dormant without meds. I don't know if falling off the chair and hitting my head caused me to fit, or if a fit made me fall and hit my head.
Nevertheless, I am back on medication. The vomiting I did when the tube was removed has caused an infection in my chest and I have nerve damage in my wrist which is causing pins and needles in my left hand.

The doctor told me I needed to be seizure free for 48 hours and I could go home.
I managed 30 hours, but then had 12 fits.
I was distraught. I was getting depressed and wondering what the hell I was doing differently now that was causing me to fit.

Day 8
My doctor figured if i did the same as a year ago, and just went home and pretended like everything is normal, my body may respond better. The don't know enough about the human brain, but anything is possible.
So he sent me home.
I have had 3 fits since. He said I may still have them off and on for 3 months.
My kids are still being themselves, other than Skye. She's very protective... I guess she understands why I am so protective of her now too LOL
We have made a promise to each other to always take our meds together and never miss a dose.

I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if this will kill me one day. I don't know if I will suddenly become normal again like I did last time.
I have a bad feeling that I have come home to die, but I have so many plans.
So many things to do with and for the kids, I have Uni staring up again in a few weeks.
I really have to get back to normal. There's really no time to waste.

Oh wow I can't believe I found this!!!

2008-12-27T21:07:00.005+11:00

This was Aiden when he was 21 months old.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=tVLq8x99g4A

We had just had a birthday party for Skye and she was telling everyone that she was six.
After Aiden sings happy birthday you hear him say.. "I'm SIX" LOL

Nawwwww they grow up so fast *sobs*

Trampoline and Cubby house

2008-12-27T18:39:00.008+11:00

The children got really big gifts this year.
Their grandparents bought them a trampoline and Jon and I bought them a cubby house off a lovely friend.
I tried so hard to get a shot of Aiden mid air on the tramp, but it was near impossible with the time delay on the camera. Jessica however, was able to get a couple of rippers.. especially one of Breeze!!!
Aiden has a ball on it as you can see by the huge smile on his face.
He's especially happy that he can jump up and see the little girl next door.
Normally he pulls up a chair and chats with her over the fence, but jumping on the tramp is much more fun!!!

Today I filled the cubby with lots of play food and a kitchen set with metal pots and pans.
They have a sink and oven in there and also a table and chairs.
Now they just need a toy fridge and a mini bed and they are all set to go.

Our Garden

2008-12-27T16:09:00.010+11:00

I've never shown off my garden before, so while I was taking pics of the hedge that Jon just trimmed with the new trimmer for Christmas, I thought I'd take some extra's.
Some of our plants a quite unusual and are great weed hiders.
I have no idea what they are called either.

I also took a shot of a tomatoe plant which seems to be getting huge but not giving me any tomatoes dammit. There's alot of yellow flowers so hopefully that's a sign something may happen soon.

Oh and "something" flowered today haha It looks like some type of lily? I have no idea.
It's the orange one.

So if anyone knows the names of any of these plants please tell me what they are!!!

Christmas tree

2008-11-30T01:22:00.004+11:00

Today Skye and I decorated the Chrissy tree.
It looks very spangely LOL I was pretty annoyed that when I pulled the balls out of the boxes, they didn't come with thread to hang them. Luckily I had some gold thread in the sewing room, but it took over an hour to thread them into all of the decos.
We were both covered in gold glitter by the end of it.
I think it turned out pretty snazzy :0)

Ear Candling

2008-11-29T02:23:00.007+11:00

Skye went to the doctor a couple of days ago after complaining for 2 days about blocked aching ears.
Not having enough money to take her to a natural practitioner, I took her to a local GP who bulk bills.
You get what you pay for *grumbles*
The doctor looked in her ears and said they were fine other than some crustyness, so told me to get some drops to soften the wax.
She then looks in her throat and says.. oh she has a very very bad infection and the pressure from her swollen tonsils are what's causing her ears to feel blocked.
I was pretty suprised at this diagnosis as you would think with tonsilitis she would have some sort of pain or discomfort in her throat.
So, I questioned the doctor about it. I also asked Skye if i could look at her throat.
Ok her tonsils were swollen, but there wasn't any puss at all or any redness.
I asked the doctor if considering she has an infection, she would have pain and puss.
The doctor assured me she has tonsilitis and even took her temp to try and proove it.
The joke was on her.. her temp was normal LOL
Ok so no pain, no fever, no puss yet apparantly she has a throat infection and the doctor is telling me that she MUST HAVE antibiotics *pfft*
I've never put that crap in her gut before and I sure as hell ain't starting now.. especially considering the fact that i am totally unconvinced she has an infection to treat!!!
The script went in the bin.. although I did for a moment consider shoving it up the doctors arse LOL
Oh she also added Panamax to the script stating.. this is for pain and I suppose you never gave the poor child Panadole either.
Umm yeh I let her suffer all in the name of "natural therapy" NOT!!!
Why give her Panadol when she isn't in pain anyway????

So I went online and asked some brilliant friends of mine what they thought would be the best way to treat the problem.
I had 5 people suggest that her symptoms sound like dairy intolerence.
So, I have limited her dairy intake to see if it helps. I would like to get an allergy test done for her to prevent eliminating anything from her diet without the need as she is already on the failsafe diet, gluten free and wheat free to combat other issues too. I don't want to restrict her diet so much that she feels deprived, so as soon as I get the allergy testing done the better.

Today when my Mum and step father came over for dinner, I decided to do some ear candling on Skye to releive the pressure she was having.. and also to help remove the wax so she could hear better (she has been very loud lately).
I set her up on the couch with a towel protecting her hair and face from falling debrise (sp?) and lit up the candle.
She was so relaxed and throughly enjoyed herself.. i had to get the camera as she looked so calm and serene.
I got my step father to hold the candle so I could take the photo.
We ended up getting around 5cm's of wax out of her ear and she instantly felt the benefits.
I have to get more of these candles as the entire family wants to try it out now LOL

Green play dough

2008-11-29T02:03:00.010+11:00

Last week when shopping with Skye, we came across some tubs of play dough for $8.
It was a set of 4 tubs in assorted colours and Skye really really wanted it.
I told her that it would be more fun (and alot cheaper) if we made some together, so a couple of days ago that's what we set out to do.
I went online and looked up some playdough recipes and all but one said we needed cream of tartar as an ingrediant (which we didn't have) so we went with the one which didn't have it.
It was a disaster LOL it was like green goop and stuck to everything. Skye played with it anyway haha she loves mess and it was like mud caking her hands and everything she touched (including door handles and taps).

Yesterday I went and bought cream of tartar so we could do this thing properly and it turned out fantastic.
We had 2 kids from up the street come over and join in with the creative fun and the kids spent hours (literally) playing with it.
I'll be getting more food colours tomorrow for sure!!!

Play dough Recipe

I cup of plain flour
2 table spoons of cream of tartar (YOU MUST USE THIS OR EWWWWW)
2 tablespoons of oil (I used canola)
half a cup of table salt
splash of colour
2 cups of warm tap water

Put all ingrediants into a pot and stir over medium heat until thick and smooth.
Take out of pot and roll into a ball till cool enough for the kids to play with.

it gives a real soft and smooth texture and doesn't stick to anything.
Store in an air tight container in the fridge and it apparantly lasts weeks.

Aiden in the spa

2008-10-31T23:29:00.005+11:00

It was a beautiful day on Wednesday and Jon got home early from work and stripped Aiden off and put him in the spa. He didn't like Daddy splashing him and even I got frustrated at him for doing it, but pay back was noice LOL
Afterwards he got his non plastic, wool hair, rag dolly (dolly dresses like Aiden, I must get a proper picture of him up) and fell asleep on the couch, wearing his "baby Aiden" which is his tie dyed growsuit that he still squeezes himself into. It was beautifully dyed by Tanya Smart
She also made him a hand painted frill neck lizard top Of course he has his blue blankee with him as per usual LOL he's had that thing since he was 12 months old.

Bella's Arnie the pug (AKA Ollie)

2008-10-31T23:21:00.004+11:00

Bella was a poor old loney girl after her puppies were sold.
There was no way I was going to put her through another birth to have her babies taken away from her, so she was speyed and I bought her a little pug to keep her company.
He's been here for a couple of months now and Bella has bonded so well with him.

How cute are these furbabies?!?!?!

Halloween craziness

2008-10-31T23:09:00.005+11:00

I'm not one for Americanized "holidays" but the children were all for dressing up and trick or treating. What kid wouldn't be?!?! lol
They organized a halloween party, but I got sick and couldn't make all the treats they "ordered".
They went trick or treating anyway and my mum brought over dinner and an "ugly" cake so the kids could use their Halloween party plates and cups etc
It ended up being a party anyway with an extra 5 children joining in!!!!

Breeze wore some hidious mask and green hair, Skye was a lion and Aiden was Elton John.
They got too many treats and not 1 piece of fruit. I still don't know why people buy blue coloured lollies for their kids.
My children have been running wild from them and Aiden just fell asleep holding his belly and moaning.

Ah well, you're only a kid for 16 years HAHA

The car incident

2008-10-31T22:57:00.004+11:00

A few weeks ago Aiden snuck outside on a hot day and locked himself in the car which was in the driveway.
He would have been in there around 10 to 15 minutes when he was found. It was seriously the scariest day of my life!!!
Well he was one of the lucky ones. He lived.
When he was found, he was happily playing and laughing and refused to unlock the door.
Once we got him out he looked like he had been standing under the shower he was so sweaty.
He came in and I gave him a drink and stripped him off to try and cool him down.
He played with the water in the spa but didn't want to hop in there with us..I tried to coax him in for half an hour.
He then went to sleep on the couch for 2 hours and when he woke he had aches and pains throughout his body and his eyes were swollen and red.
The cappillaries had burst from the heat. We thought he may have had his first bout of conjunctivities at the start, but once we took him to the chemist they told me it was more than likely the effects of over heating.
They gave us drops just incase, but 2 days later his eyes healed without treatment, which confirmed it wasn't conjunctivities.

I have added some photos I found on the camera tonight from the day after.
We now make sure the car is always locked and the keys out of reach!!!!

Steiner, sewing and studying

2008-10-20T01:39:00.009+11:00

It's been a busy week.
Skye started at the Steiner school this week and had swimming lessons with the school everyday except for Wednesday (she finishes at 12:30pm on Wednesdays). She had her first school friend's birthday party on Wednesday after school too, so I got to mingle with the parents and get to know them a little. I can already remember 3 of their names LOL

I finished my first assignment this week in interpsersonal communicaton, so now I can focus on the psychology one this week and hopefully get the conflict management one done the week after. They are all due to be handed in my the 2nd week of November arghhh

I took a day off study today and did some sewing. Skye needed more clothes for school now that she doesn't wear a uniform or bum around at home, so I thought I'd be frugal and make her some.
So far I have made two tops both using the same pattern. They remind me of hankerchief dresses Iwore when I was a kid. One is very light weight cotton for hot days, which is the floral print one with the yellow side panels (I ran out of floral fabric, but fortunatly the yellow matches quite well). It looks much better on than it did when I was sewing it. I really thought she'd hate it, but she was eager to slip it over the dress my mother bought her a couple of weeks ago.
The other dress in more of a Spring weight. It's made out of cotton velour which I had bought for making cloth wipes. I think the pink and blue go well together :0) Skye's wearing that one tomorrow.

Adult home schooler

2008-10-03T22:17:00.002+10:00

I have started a bachelors in applied social science and am doing it mostly online at home.
I started the course the same day as school holidays (kids are no longer natural learning for now)
so it's been a struggle trying to study and entertain them at the same time, but not as hard as I thought it would be.
Skye starts at our local steiner school (Gilghai) on the 13th of this month, so we are going to start sewing some pretty spring dresses for her to wear there as they have no uniforms.

Today my mum went to a store near her work which sells fair trade toys and clothing. She bought the kids some wooden spinning tops, Skye got a felt dragonfly making kit and Breeze got a fairy one. Aiden got a wooden pull along toy with balls that roll inside it. I will have to get the camera out and take some shots of the lovely stuff from the store tomorrow.
She also bought Skye the prettiest dress and matching hat for her first day at school.

I also bid on ebay for some felt fabrics and the cutest tea party set, full of beautiful felt cup cakes, iced vovo's, cakes and donuts. I hope I win them, I will know on the 9th.
I have been eyeing off some felt vegies at the spiral garden store too, but if I get creative I may be able to make the kids some myself.

I am now on the look out for some kids wooden knitting needles for Skye and Breeze, so they can start knitting soft toys. They are also eager to learn to sew, so I will get some hand sewing kits for them to do first before trying to teach them to thread a machine and sew without inury LOL

I have been waiting for Skye to be lice free for 3 months solid so I can dread her hair (to make it look thicker) she is on week 2 so far.. I hope there's not a nit issue at her new school.

Will be back to post some photos tomorrow.

Breeze and Jessica

2008-05-04T16:18:00.006+10:00

I was uploading photos from my camera today and found a couple of shots of Jessica and Breeze.
Not sure who took the shots, but I love them and they are definatly blog worthy LOL

I'm such a proud mum!!!

Puppies

2008-05-04T16:05:00.006+10:00

Bella had puppies 4 weeks ago. There are 4 boys which is a very small litter, but enough for anyone to handle.
Today they finally got to spend the day outside. I built a puppy pen out of 2 compost cages and some springs and wire, and I put their crate/bed in it, with Bellas feeding bed and some paper and food.
For the past 4 weeks Aiden has been acting like a puppy and crawling into the crate with the puppies and nearl quishing them, so now that the pen is set up, he can easily fit in with them and be my most precious pup in the house.
I even managed to get the camera out in time to catch him barking and crawling around in the pen with them. Hopefully next time he crawls into their tiny crate I'll have the camera too.. I always miss the right moment.
I've had kids from around the street coming over in dribs and drabs to check out the puppies now that they are old enough to be handled.. news travelled fast.. it was only an hour after the pen was set up and we had the kids visiting for a cuddle.
I took a photo of a couple of the kids holding puppies with Breeze and Skye.
It's getting cold now, so I think I'll bring them in for the night. Oh and big news, they started on solid food today too and even a drank some puppy milk from a bowl.
Of course they like nothing better than to snuggle up to Bella and nurse from her.. mmmm... nothing better than straight from the breast.

2008-04-18T21:32:00.005+10:00

Shoes

2008-03-26T23:17:00.004+11:00

Today Skye had a friend over for a few hours and Jessica stayed with them while Breeze, Aiden and I went shopping.
I had to get them both new shoes, get stuff for Breezes party which will be on Saturday, and get some groceries.
I went into payless shoes because they have their usual buy one pair and get the 2nd pair half price sale and I am pretty hard up for cash at the moment.
First we looked at shoes for Aiden and he chose a pair of black and red grosby runners off the shelf. I wasn't sure of his size, so guessed an 8 and he tried them on. They were a size too big, but buggered if HE was letting me try the 7's on.. so the 8's it was. He wouldn't take them off for anyone and spent the next 2 hours bumping into people and walls because he was watching his feet the entire time instead of looking where he was going.

Breeze found a nice pair of black boots which make click clack noises when she walks. They are also pretty supportive for her flat feet, so they will be a good pair to where with her orthotics she's getting next week... but the best thing is the click clack noise they make.. OF COURSE!!!

We got home and Skye's friend had already been picked up, so I thought it would be a great time to set the computer up for her to use her spelling CD ROM the spelling centre, the first 200 words.
She got the hang of it right away and loved it. After half an hour Breeze was bursting to give it a go, so Skye reluctantly let her LOL
While Breeze used the computer, Skye went into the kitchen with me and helped me prepare dinner. Then it was dinner time, play time, tv time and bed time.. in that order. Breeze had let the cat in earlier, so after her bed time, it was OH MY, the cat wee'd in the bed and I need the sheets changed while I have a shower time LOL

Aiden went to sleep after that with his shoes on, on the couch. He had gotten upset at PJ change time because I took them off, so he held them till he was dressed, then slipped them back on for sleeping in. I have to sneek them off soon before he gets foot rot.

Ok, no plans for tomorrow, will just play it by ear.. the joys of freedom to learn from life.

Gardening and cooking

2008-03-24T17:15:00.004+11:00

Today was day number one of unschooling.
Breeze and Skye went to the grocery store to get some gardening gloves and some milk and ingrediants for tonights dinner.
Breeze remembered the prices of the items as we put them in the basket and was only a couple of dollars off the total when we got to the register. What a great way for her to add and subtract and learn about finaces and budget.
When we got home Breeze decided to have a bit of social activity, so invited her friends from over the road over for a play while Skye went out in the Garden with me and her dad and did some weeding.
She really enjoyed it and was pretty bummed that we ran out of weeds to pull in the front yard and our blades were too blunt for pruning.
However once she realised it was time to cook dinner she quickly got over her moment of despair.
I asked Breeze to send her friends home so she could help with the cooking too.
Apricot chicken.. nice and easy for them to remember, next week they can try it without any direction.
mmMMMMmm I can smell it cooking already.
Breeze opened the can of apricots using the can opener for the first time. Skye used the scissors to open the french onion soup mix, they both laid out the chicken in the oven pan and all i did was put the foil on the top.
Breeze knows how to pre heat the oven and set the timer too.
So, there we have it.. home ec class done for the day LOL I wonder if they would like to write a short play every week to show their grandparents each Friday night *rubs chin pondering*

Woollies

2007-03-28T01:30:00.000+10:00

Here are Aiden woolies. We have 5 pairs of longies, 5 shorties and 5 soakers, plus 1 pair of Baabum longies which are missing. Hopefully they are in the washing basket. I will upload a pic when I find them :0)

The STASH

2007-03-27T02:14:00.000+10:00

This is Aiden's recent nappy stash, minus the full bucket of dirty ones, the woolies which are half in the wash half put away.

The tope one is of my PUL covers and minky berry plushes.

Pretty colourful hey?!?!

Nappies and woolies

2007-03-27T00:27:00.000+10:00

Here are some things I made that I am rather proud of.
The pretty shorties were made for my friend Kirsty and her Daughter Tayah in a shortie swap a few weeks ago.
I used Jet wool alpaca blend and dyed it with food dye and Kool aid.
Another talented friend, Candice crocheted the daisies for me and I stitched them on.

The nappy is Aidens favourite (actually, it's the only nappy he even takes any notice of) I got the soft Thomas the tank microfleece from spotlight and was going to make a dressing gown/robe , but decided an AIO nappy would be fun to try out.
Unfortunately the flannel I have used for the inner is bad quality and is starting to disintegrate after only a dozen or so wears.
I am making a friend one soon with better material, so will do up another for Aiden too.
It's such a shame it won't last, cause it's the trimmest fleece AIO he has..if I do say so myself ;0)

Princess Bella

2007-03-27T00:19:00.000+10:00

This is my other baby Bella.

She is almost a year old and the most lovabull hugabull bulldog in the world.

Bella is finally off heat so can come back in doors.. now we have to get her to stop farting so much haha

Aiden and Bella are terrific friends. The first words Aiden spoke clear as day were Bella SIT (although he has a lisp and sit sounds more like.. umm... it starts with sh instead.)

Bella sits by Aidens feed at meal time.. not sure if she is protecting her little buddy or collecting the food he drops, but Aiden loves sharing with her anyway.. bite for you, bite for me.. so glad she's been wormed.

ewwwwww

Spunky boy Aiden

2007-03-27T00:02:00.000+10:00

This is my baby boy Aiden

He's is 18 months old and started walking a couple of weeks ago.

Aiden is my number 1 nappy model, but doesn't care too much about nappies himself, he just wants me to get on with it so he can go and play and explore. He does love the camera though.

Aiden has quite the vocablary and adds another word to the collection everyday.

Today we went and saw Nana and he greeted her with hello Nana. When she gave him a drink he said thanksoo and when he handed me something he shouldn't have had, he said Tah.

He said bye bye when he was ready to go home for a "boo boo" and nap.

His favourite songs are Dorothy the dinasour (he sings it, door blah bli, door blah bli woo woo woo woo wee) and splish splosh, which he sings whenever I ask him if she wants a bath.

Miss Skye

2007-03-26T23:25:00.000+10:00

This is my 6 year old daughter Skye. She's such a princess and loves to dress as one also.

Skye is doing prep again this year because she struggled last year when she was suffering from un diagnosed epliepsy (pesilepsy as she calls it) . Now she is on medication and although her seizures seem to have stopped, she is struggeling with the side affects and stays home from school most days so she can sleep.

When Skye isn't sleeping, she loves playing with her dolls, reading, swimming and watching movies. The Grinch is one of her favourites at the moment.

Skye still co sleeps with me and I can't see her changing that anytime soon, but I don't mind because it's getting cold at night here and she makes a lovely heat pack hehehe

Briahnna

2007-03-26T23:07:00.001+10:00

This is my 10 year old treasure Briahnna.

Isn't she just the most beautiful little girl? This photo was taken Christmas morning at 6am.

Breeze is doing grade 3 for the second time and is finding it much easier than last year

and her confidence has been lifted.

She has made lots of new friends and loves playing the Xbox and swimming.

Briahnna also loves to sing and play the guitar..just like her Dad.

Jessica

2007-03-26T22:54:00.000+10:00

Here is my oldest daughter Jessica.

She's 15 and is doing year 10 at a girls school she started at this year and she's loving it.

Jess has a boyfriend called Daniel who is a real sweetie and treats her really well.

My baby girl has grown into a woman so fast. I still remember the night she was born and my thoughts the moment I first laid eyes on her.