Tonsillitis Part II

Not 2 weeks after Andrew has finished his last course of antibiotics (Abbocillin) (not made by Abbott by the way -- its a penicillin V) he has a severe case of tonsillitis on the right hand side of his throat.
I broke down and took him to the 24 hour urgent care center in Chatswood today because he has a bad fever (102-103) and terrible sore throat and bad joint pain in his legs and won't walk. The doctor didn't even do a strep test. Said the tonsil looked bad and just prescribed the meds. Said to keep up the ibuprofen, too. Not really sure of the joint pain though -- thought it could be a virus or not sure. Not much help in that case. Jim mentioned JRA and freaked me out. I hope that isn't the case after reading about it. All the symptoms match, but mom said that I was tested for it when I was little and didn't have it. And with the Internet, you can read anything you want into things pretty easily.
Now he is going to be taking Erithromicyn for the next 10 days. Andrew was excited that its an Abbott drug. I told Jim and then he informed us that Abbott here just sold it away in September. Go figure!!! First time we get an Abbott drug for sure and its not even necessarily benefiting Abbott's bottom line anymore!

Oh the things they say

We were talking to Emmalee about her cousins Alex and Joe. Something came up about switching places with Joe, who is in 1st grade.

She said, 'Sure! That would be great.'

I reminded her that Joe is younger and in just starting 1st grade, so if she switched with him, she would be having to repeat 1st grade for the 3rd time (part in Illinois before we moved, a year here, and then repeat there -- if we are being technical in this imaginary talk!)

She perked up and looked really excited, which we were amazed about so we asked 'Why?'

She replied, 'That'd be OK because I would already knowed everything!'

They have arrived!!!!!

The long wait is over. The crafting is done! Jim and the kids left at 6am this morning to pick Bill and Mary up at the airport. He was on time this time, rather than 20 minutes late like he was with my mom and dad!
It was a bright and sunny morning, so they were greeted with beautiful weather and beautiful grandchildren. Don't know who was more excited to see who...

Duty Free Shopping

I think we are set for a while...

Cow-traband

Bill and Mary brought in some Jose's Salsa from Mom. Look how it travelled thru customs...

Sick Day - Term 3

Looks like Andrew is following a trend. I came home from Emma's and not 20 minutes after I hit the pillow was he not feeling well and in our bed. 45 minutes later he was vomiting in our bed. Fun night. Long night. Decided that he was definitely not gonna go to school after that sort of a night.
Had Letetia pick up Emmalee and take her to school. She brought by a cappuccino on her way back so I didn't miss out on the company this morning which was really nice.
Andrew and I hung out on the couch most of the day. UGH! I was exhausted which is pretty normal after a night like that. He must have some sort of a gastro bug that has hit him out of both ends.
Thought it would was getting better, but he tossed dinner too. Yuck Yuck Yuck...

Helping a Friend

One of the Abbott families (actually the one that helped convince me it was OK to move here) is in the process of moving back to the US. Yesterday was the 1st day the movers were at the house so I dropped by with coffees and lunch to help support Kathy in her 'time of crisis'.
Figured moving is stressful enough. Dealing with packing and shipping your life across the world is worse -- so might as well have someone there who can sympathize or empathize with her.
Oh my goodness... the movers they had there were just unbelievable. They weren't wrapping furniture in anything but thin foamy sheets. No flannel blankets. No bubble wrap. No double layers. UGH!
Her boxes were stuffed to the top and then barely taped shut. Some were bursting open and cracked on the seams. Others were bulging at the top. She must have had almost a dozen boxes labeled ornaments (or ornamints) depending on the labeller... and when I last looked, all of her ornaments were still in her storage space waiting to go by air on November 5th!!! Her lamps were boxed with the shades still attached and again making the boxes bulge. If I have ever seen the opportunity for someone's head to explode, I think it might have happened during this moving experience for her!
I came back today with more coffee and lunch for later. By noon, the packing and loading wasn't getting any better. She got into yet another heated discussion with the packers after they laughed at her concern over an unframed yet sentimental painting her husband bought her in France on a trip they took together last year. The packers didn't think it was all that big of a deal if it was bent/ruined/lost. The company would pay for it. No worries. She (and I) kept trying to explain that it wasn't the money -- it was the emotional ties to this stuff. And its stuff, yes, but it has meaning and memories. UGH!!! So, she grabbed her mobile phone, asked me to watch over things and took off for a 45 minute walk.
When she got back I think she came to grips that there really wasn't much that could be done at this point so we just sat and ate lunch and chatted. Then, I hung around until 2.30 when they were almost done and there wasn't much else I could do but go and pick up my own kids.
At this point, we a)know who we AREN'T using to move back to the states
b)won't move if they say that we have to use them or
c) will just leave everything behind

--- just kidding about b) mom and dad!!!!!!

Counting to 100

Andrew came to me this afternoon and proudly told me that he could easily count to 100. So I asked him to do so and sat on the edge of my seat waiting...

One
Two
Skip a few
Ninety Nine
One Hundred

I asked him where he learned that and can you guess what he told me... Miss Jowett!!! Is that Australian Maths????

So, I had to email his teacher, Miss Jowett and this is her response:

"Oh no! That is actually so funny! I have heard a lot of them saying it lately and was thinking how do they all remember it, it was such a throw away line at the end of our maths lesson. They are just like little sponges! Will have to fill them in on the numbers in between.. at least they now have an idea on what the word 'few' means. (kinda)
Alisha"

I am back in the game

I was asked by two friends starting a business of making towelling robes for the pool and beach to help the out after school by taking photos and maybe giving them some creative ideas on how to structure some design things to get their business recognised...








p.s. that is Andrew is the green towelling robe. Emmalee's photos were amazing. Will post those later!

The kids are models

Here are the photos from the photo shoot!

The Joey Robe Gang


Andrew, Archie and Hugo


Our little supermodel

To see all my photos (the good, the bad and the weird, click the photos to go to my picasa album)

Hich School Musical 2

In great anticipation of the September 22nd premeire of the High School Musical 2, Emmalee and her friends made plans to watch it together at Olivia's house. Olivia made tickets and everything!
Her mom was going to order pizzas from Pizza Tutti's (the girls' favorite place) and have popcorn and veggie sticks. How girlie can it get???

We pick her up in an hour!!!

Shake Your Groove Thang

Andrew's Kindy Class has been having dance classes every Friday morning during Term 3. I have heard how cute they were, but hadn't experienced it first hand until today...

1R Assembly

Today Emmalee's class hosted the Thursday assembly.

She got to speak and they sang a song

She also got an award for great improvement in maths skills! Way to go Emmalee!!!

Thumbwatch 2007

56 hours into the antibiotics and they seem to be working. I can bend my thumb a bit more and the swelling is going down. A bit. Not a lot. But its not getting worse. And its itching, so I am taking that as a good sign. Nail is still black and purple. Thumb still hurts. Barely cooking. Had someone come in to clean today (OK had that booked before the accident, but it still was nice!)

Slugs and Spiders and Uck, Oh My!

This morning I started the day by kicking what I thought was a leaf on the floor and it turned out to be

a slug! It left a nice slime trail across the floor. So I called the kids into view it and Emmalee just loved it. She loves anything living.

We ended up setting him free in her flower box on the deck just before school.


Then this evening when I went out to Jim's car to do something, on my way in I was looking at my car and what did I see on my back window???

I didn't scream, but rather went calmly inside and grabbed my camera. Requested Jim to come outside and name the spider. I wanted to know/confirm if it was a huntsman or not since I am the only one who hadn't seen one yet. He went outside with me and said it looked too flat to be one. Then when I had him throw a leaf down next to it to compare sizes, it puffed up, scampered off and Jim said, "Hmmm, maybe he was fatter than he looked. He must have been a huntsman afterall. Just not as big as the one on my car that day going to work!"
He was ugly nonetheless!

Spa Day

Decided to take advantage of the fact that I can't do a whole lot around the house (OK, don't like to do much anyway but now I have an excuse) and turn in my certificate that Jim and the kids gave me for Mother's Day. I scheduled a facial and a pedicure. My toes have been looking quite neglected. Was supposed to go last week and since the squish and smash ----- it didn't get done.

BEFORE

Thought today would be as good a day as any.
It was a really nice place. Very relaxing. I got a tea tree oil pedicure and a general facial. Both were well deserved. My face definitely needed some TLC after all the travelling and stress that went along with it.
2 1/2 hours later I wandered out of there much more relaxed

AFTER

and and with a slight dent in my (or Jim's) credit card. So, I will be going back in 4 weeks for my next facial. I need to continue the care of MYSELF :)

I have a diagnosis

Just what I thought. She has no idea. Could be an infection. Could be residual swelling. Could be nothing. The doctor gave me a prescription for Keflex and said that I should feel markedly better in 36 hours from when I start taking it. She also gave me a script for an x-ray in case I don't. That would be to see if there are any spare bone or cartilage chips floating around and causing swelling or something. YIPEE.
So, gonna take the meds and see what happens. Let's hope the swelling stops because there's really nothing that can be done for me other than to drill the nail and drain under it... ewwwwwwwwwwww.

Thumb Watch 2007

Still not moving/bending much--just throbbing. Still grossing people out. Think I will go to the doctor tomorrow. UGH!

Saturday Bike and Scooter

This afternoon Jim took the kids for a ride out to the point of Northbridge. To burn off some energy and to get them out of the house. They weren't playing well with each other at home and needed to get out to do something. I laid down after trying to hang clothes and finding out that it takes alot of energy in your lame/sore thumb...
Andrew said they did some marching and 'searching' on a rock once they got there at the end of the ride. It was like playing in Grandma and Grandpa's woods by their house where dad and Uncle Bill used to play. They ran into Emma's mom and her dog Chloe before going on their hike. They did some rock climbing. I think they had a pretty good time. The weather was perfect for a bike ride and hike through the knoll as they call it.Now they are going to a sleep over at Ali Young's house (before Ali and family move back to Libertyville) and Jim and I go out to dinner and see the Bourne Ultimatum.

Thumb Watch 2007

Nail hasn't fallen off yet, but my finger's still swollen. Grosses out Jim every time he sees it!

World Cup 2007

Don't try this at home...or in the car

This afternoon in a hurry to get back to pick the kids up from school I managed to smash my right thumb all the way up to my 1st knuckle in the door of my friend's car. Didn't even realize I did it until I tried to walk away and my hand didn't come with me. UGH!
It took almost a magical 6 hours later until the nerves in my thumb started firing and then did the pain hit. Oh did the pain hit. WOW. Thank goodness for lamaze breathing.

Friday on Holiday

We got up this morning after the kids. They were actually quite quiet -- went and watched tv without making too much noise. It was unbelievable!
Then by 8.30 John was up and ready to make breakfast for everyone. The kids weren't up for a full breakfast except for Andrew. The grown-ups were, so we all enjoyed a great breakfast of pancakes, eggs to order and bacon. Can't tell you how much Andrew ate, but he really enjoyed it!
We were on the road to the Jenolan Caves, a mere 74kms away. It took a few minutes to get the kids psyched up to go, but once we got them into the car, they were ready to go.
These caves are the oldest caves in the world. To get there we had to drive on the M5 and turn left left Lithgoh on the Jenolan Cave Road. Pretty easy to follow directions. The scenery was amazing. It went from city to countryside (like in Iowa) to forestry like the Black Hills in SD. The roads were windey. We saw road signs that said watch out for wallabies and wombats. We even saw a dead wombat by the side of the road and a live wallabie by the side of road.
When we got to the caves, to enter we got to drive through the center of the arch of the cave.

Then we see this cute little European looking village. Then we drive up a huge hill to the 2nd parking lot because the first one was full.
We did a walk through a single cave first and then got tickets to do a tour of the Lucas Cave. It was the first cave discovered there. The boys booked the tour and when we looked at the map we discovered it was a blue tour -- which meant the most difficult and 910 steps (90 min). We were up for it and insisted to the kids they were too. After a last minute toilet run by Jacqueline and Emmalee we joined the group and started the tour. It was fascinating. I really enjoyed it. Would have enjoyed it more, but about 20 minutes into the tour Emmalee started complaining about her right ear aching.
The tour ended up lasting close to 2 hours. We headed back to the house and went from sunshine, through fog, then into rain and back into really thick fog as soon as we got back into Katoomba. It was really weird. At least it was nice all day while we were doing things outside.
We got back and started watching a movie called 'Hot Fuzz' which was quite funny. Sophie and John did dinner, which was tortellini and chicken and veggies. Then after dinner we finished the movie while the kids watched their own movies (girls did Princess Bride and boys did something else).
Once the kids were settled in bed we had a rematch/remix of Pictionary. It sucked. Jim and John were partners and they kicked Sophie and my butts. We were stuck on the green/difficult space for most of the night. It was sooooooo depressing. But fun and funny. We always kept remembering that we were friends before the game and will be friends after the game :) Nah -- they were almost all 'all plays' so we all got to draw and guess together, so we could ridicule each other!

Jenolan Caves

Here are some photos of the caves from yesterday.

We were at the head of the tour for most of it, so we were able to get great photos. In the anteroom, the guide shut off the lights and then played music and a light show which was incredible.

In another chamber you could see where people had signed their names in candle soot and pencil to mark their 'discoveries'. It was very interesting to hear the history of the cave, including how the early settlers/cave explorers would picnic in their regular clothes -ie women in their dresses with whalebone stays and men in their suits. How they would tour with just candlelight and picnic. And sometimes miss the path and have to be stopped by rocks further down the way. One was even named full stop rock!!!

Its amazing how long it takes to create the stalagtites and stalamites and all the other formations in the caves. They figure about 1 cm every 100 years!

Unbelievable!!!!

Solitary Retreat

We are officially on holiday. We packed up the car this morning as full as it would go and headed out to the Blue Mountains this morning at 10.15am. The weather forecast predicted a weekend of 50's with maybe 60's if we are lucky with tons of drizzly and rain. So we are looking for indoor activities and other things to do.
Made it to Katoomba at just about noon. From the time we left Sydney the temps dropped almost 10 degrees Centigrade and it went from sunny to rainy. What a change heading into the mountains... Found the house with no trouble at all. Its really cute.
We barely got all of our stuff inside when the Bartons pulled up. Perfect timing. Got everything put away and then made lunch for everyone. Kids played for a while. Boys made a fire. OK, men made a fire. Read, talked, kids played games. When the rain/mist/whatever quit around 2.30 we decided to take a walk into town. It's a decent downtown. Much like an old style Lake Geneva or something maybe 50 years ago. We send Sophie back with the kids and Jim and I went to Coles to pick up the rest of the groceries that we didn't bring up with us since they were tired of walking (They being the kids). Good thing, too since we were about a half kilometer from the house on our way back when it started to rain. We had an umbrella so it wasn't a big deal -- but then we looked up and saw Sophie driving to look for us. How nice! :)
I grilled pizza for dinner. The cookies have been flying off the counters. Not sure if there are going to be any left on Saturday when the Fords come up after Letetia gets off work! Guess my cooking appeals to the Aussies taste buds!
So far we have watched two 'adult' films -- Ferris Buellers Day Off and Office Space. Both tons of laughs. Then after much thinking we decided to pull out Pictionary and re-establish the winning team of Nikki/John and losing team of Sophie/Jim. We were way behind for half the game and then pulled a come from behind surprise recovery to finish strong. We just needed to find our rhythm. You should have seen some of the drawings coming from all of us! OMG!
Now its 11.45pm and Sophie is in bed, I should be and the boys are playing name that 80's tune with John's ipod at the kitchen table. Who knows when they will finally call it a night. They are on the 2nd bottle of red for the evening and having a great time testing each other's knowledge of music, so I really have no idea. Ah.... the joys of a holiday. I just hope the kids either sleep in or go watch tv quietly in the morning.

Baking, Baking, Baking

I have been baking like mad. We are leaving for a four day holiday in the Blue Mountains of Sydney tomorrow with the Bartons. I have taken it upon myself to make

cinnamon rolls,

chocolate chip cookies

AND peanut butter cup cookies.

Plus, I made the dry mix for chocolate chip scones and I am going to make a batch of pizza dough tomorrow before we leave. That's not counting all the other food I have prepped for the weekend like cheese, salami, crackers, chips, etc. for snacks to keep up our energy levels while we are lounging around.

The weather doesn't look like it will be the best, so I am afraid we might be spending a fair amount of time inside... so have to have tons of food right???

Double Bay

Did a quick "Seeing Sydney Tour" with Nicole and Noah this morning, kinda spur of the moment. She needed to pick something up and asked if I wanted to ride along. I said sure knowing we would be back by lunch time.
We were off to Double Bay in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. It was a cute little area. Hadn't been down there before. We went to a fairey shop because she had to get a present for her god-daughter's birthday party this weekend. Then we stopped for coffee and a little breakfast. I got chocolate crepes, which were excellent.
Made it back by 11.30, so it was a nice quick trip. I look forward to a few more 'seeing Sydney tours' in the future!

Busy Day

Today I taught scripture again. Had to try to get the children to understand about people who care about them. Half of them understood the concept. The other half were off in never-never land. Never to return I fear... Miss Rees said she is going to talk to them and their parents before next week. We'll see what happens.
Then off to reading groups. Had the easy group this week. Only 4 this time around and they pretty much read and wrote what they were told. Its awfully windy and cold so we were inside again.

Walked back home and started working on Emmalee's new IKEA desk that I picked up for her yesterday. Clock started ticking at 11am. 41 steps on the instruction booklet in Swedish.

How did it turn out?

1. One band-aid on pointer finger where I dropped a shelf when I took it out of the box and managed a nice gouge out of my finger
2. No left over pieces of wood, screws, wooden posts or anything else
3. No removing screws or nails to reattach somewhere else
4. No swearing
5. Finished in under four hours

I would say I did pretty well. Even managed to get to the grocery store, shoe repair shop and the chemist to refill a prescription before school pick-up. Man did I feel productive.
Then we took Sophie and Jacqueline to Jacq's swimming lessons since John had their car. After dropping them back at home we squeaked into our swimming lessons and then went home for dinner and bed. WHEW! What a day!

The Velveteen Rabbit...almost

Went into the doctor on the way to school this morning to confirm whether Andrew actually had strep. And to find out why his rash went away EXCEPT for this lovely rash that is remaining on his groin area. Of course he is a boy and that is such a polite area to be itching in.
Dr. Ratner said that since it is rashy there, it was definitely strep, although the results weren't in and since the rash was still there only, it probably started there is it was a sign that it was Scarlet Fever. Oh My Goodness!!! At least we aren't living in the times of the Velveteen Rabbit where we would have had to burn all the toys and linens and keep him away from everyone for weeks at a time. The doctor said since he had been on the antibiotics since Saturday, he was completely fine to go to school.
So, all I did was write a note to Miss Jowett explaining that if she saw Andrew fidgeting or scratching himself inappropriately too much, it was medically necessary -- and that Dr. Ratner said it was OK and told me to send him to school. It wasn't my fault!!!
Needless to say, he is acting fine now, just itchy!

Definitely need to have it fumigated

I enjoyed yet another night of crying, fevers, sweats, sore throats, ear aches and a new one... an itchy rash. So, I took him back to the dr. this morning. I was afraid it was definitely strep now instead of a virus because of the rash. It just didn't look like a heat rash and I had him sleeping in only his undies and taking ibuprofen all night so he was as equalized as possible for the fevers. UGH!
She looked at him, looked at his tonsils and said possibly she saw white spots. Talked him into a throat culture. Took alot of talking. Alot of persuading. But we finally did it. Will find out on Monday. They don't really have such things as rapid strep tests here. I expect to find them here in about 20 years or so. :)
Now we are on Penicillin V for the next 2 1/2 weeks to kill off this bug. He doesn't like the grainy, coconut flavored medicine he has to take twice a day on an empty stomach. Luckily she doubled it up so we only do it 2x instead of 4x a day! Fingers crossed he will get better quickly!
He missed his soccer trophy day so we are really sad about that, but hopefully Jackson will bring it to church for him tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary

Happy 6th Anniversary to Phillip and Katie!