reflections of our life on the farm and beyond

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Lord...it's been a while

As the end of the year draws near, I seem to run out of time for everything! And that includes updating this blog. But much has happened over the past few weeks and a quick breeze through is:
  • Biddy sporting a new pixie hair cut thanks to Tom trying his hand at hairdressing (grrrr)
Biddy's hair as it was before Tom got to it

Biddy's hair AFTER Tom got to it (Mullet style all the way!)

Biddy's hair after our friend Suz came and fixed it (bless you Suz!)
  • Mark taking the fire truck to Biddy's daycare for the kids
Can't you just see that Mark was wishing that the pump was turned on!
  • Hosting some Fonterra reps at home
  • Bella being classified as 'failing to thrive' and having to have an ultrasound to rule out anything serious
  • Missing out on the Colac and Noorat shows this year because I developed a calcified tendon in my shoulder and couldn't halter break the cows
  • I attended the Stampin Up! regional conference in Melbourne and took Bella with me who was a very good baby that day!
  • Running a stack of Christmas card classes for local ladies
  • Tom getting his new uniform for St Mary's primary next year
  • Having the heifers classified by Holstein Australia
  • Bella started solids
Note the silver Tiffany's spoon that we gave Tom as a baby, but all kids have used for their very first feed!
  • I spent a leisurely, childless couple of hours sailing the mouth of the Yarra to celebrate my friend Lou's 40th
  • Mark taking Tom on his first excursion to Cobden miniature railway with Wydinia Kindergarten
And just today, we took Tom for his first orientation day at St Mary's (second one is in early December). A bit emotional for a few of us mums and we weren't even leaving them!! Yet. While I think it was hard on the mums that were sending their first-born to school, I did see a few more experienced mums welling up at various points of the discussion. I didn't feel so bad!

Just going back to the point about Bella and 'failing to thrive', we've been battling for a few months with her weight gain. She was doing normally and quite well up until 3 months old and then she simply just stopped gaining anything significant. We took her to Geelong Hospital for an ultrasound to see if she had pyloric stenosis (a thickening of the muscle at the bottom of the stomach that prevents the milk/food going through to the intestines) but the u/s showed all to be normal. She vomits A LOT although it doesn't appear to be reflux due to a range of indicators. So we kept a close eye on her, but a week ago she lost quite a lot of weight. On MCHN and drs recommendation, I started her on solids (farex) hoping that her weight would improve or at least steady. But a weigh today showed that she has lost even more weight. At 5.5months she now weighs the exact same as she did at just 4 months of age (just on 5kg), meaning she has only gained about 1.6kg since birth. Whilst she looks and acts healthy enough, there is not a lot to her. We have now been given a rush appointment to see the paediatrician next week to see what can be done. So more tears from me.

With Tom's new venture and Bella's poor outcome, I was a tad stressed and now have the makings of a migraine. Great! What a day.

And to just top everything off, Mark has had to take Tom to A&E tonight because we think he is having an asthma attack! Good Lord.....what is going on today? Tom suffers very badly with hayfever (as do I) and has spent this past week with a puffy face, itching eyes and throat and runny nose. Now I know it is silage season for us here and that is simply the WORST time of year for us hayfever sufferers, but we had a stack of rain last night and that calmed down the pollen. I am fine today, but over the course of the day, Tom had developed a persistent cough that is stopping him from talking, and immediately after his bath, he started wheezing and it became so bad that he was really struggling for breath. I just told Mark to take him into casualty. He has never had asthma before, so I didn't want to muck around as we have nothing here to give him. I am waiting for them to get home.......

I'll be damn glad when today is over. I need another headache tablet.

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