Tragedy and heartbreak

It is with an extremely heavy heart and great sadness that I write this post. Yesterday we received some terrible news - news that no parent wants to get.

A young friend of Thomas' - a kid in our swimming class - died on Saturday afternoon. And it was in the most tragic of circumstances. His mum put him down for a nap in the afternoon and instead of going to sleep, he got himself into a chest that was being used as a toy box in his room. The lid closed and he couldn't get out. He suffocated. He was 3.5yo.

I am trying my best not to think about it, but as a mother of a similar aged boy, it is damn hard not to. I look at Thomas and I just want to hold him close. I have to say, that my sharp tongue retorts towards him and my often short fuse have been held in check over the past 24 hours.

Tom and Rueben spent almost every Tuesday morning together for more than the past 2 years, initially getting used to the water and in latter months, enjoying the beginnings of actual swimming. I have watched this little boy develop from a baby into an active toddler, and I simply cannot fathom that he will no longer be there.

I cannot imagine what the family must be going through and my most deepest sympathies go to his mum and dad and their extended families.

RIP Rueben and may the angels always watch out for you and keep you in their care.

I am now off to hug my kids and tell them how much I love them. Once again, I am reminded of how precious life is.

The milestones continue

At just over 8.5 months of age, Bridie has decided to roll over from back to front! This means that assertion of her independance has been taken to another level and my life with her has changed once again. In the next few days, I imagine that she will become more and more proficient at rolling around and no longer will she remain where I place her. Of course, the frustration that she has encountered in recent months will also largely alleviate as she is able to move herself to where she wants to go, so that is a good thing in my books. And the other benefit is that she will be more mobile to escape her brother who still finds her the ideal target of his often rough affections!

Colac, Colac hear us roar.......

Colac Braves - B Grade Premiers 2008

After a nailbiting and at times sloppy game, the Colac Braves pulled off the clincher of the season by winning the baseball grand final 13 runs to 12 against Ballarat Mounties on Saturday. At the bottom of the 1st dig, the score was 6 to 4 (Ballarat's way)...amazing score seeing as some of the games throughout the season didn't total that much in NINE innings!!! The Braves trailed the whole game and then deep in the 7th innings, when down by 1 run, they managed to bring it all together and score 2 runs to take the lead. I am also happy to say that it was Mark who crossed the plate to take them to the lead.

Unfortunately the seconds did not have such a great outing and they lost their grand final game by 1 run against Corio (11 runs to 10), so there are mixed feelings at the club about the weekend.

Mark however, had a fabulous weekend. Not only did his side win the grand final, but he was also presented with life membership for the Colac Braves. He has been playing with the Braves since their inception and prior to that, with the Colac Demons (which merged with Colac Tigers to become the Braves). This year he also enjoyed his 300th game with the Braves (more games played if you count the Demons' games), so this capped off a great season for him. He didn't however, fair too well on the injury count for the weekend. A bad back due to being cleaned up at home plate while attempting to tag a player out, a badly bruised knee and a large purple/black bruise on his side courtesy of some dodgy pitching, and the usual miriad of scrapes and cuts that go with playing baseball. But to be honest, he doesn't really feel them. He is still just so happy.

Colac Braves' newest life member

"Colac, Colac hear us roar

Colac, Colac watch us
score

We love our women

And we love our beer

Colac, Colac. It's our
year!"

Teething...

Bridie has cut her first tooth. Another milestone. This of course makes breastfeeding become all that more interesting. Sort of like playing with a jack-in-the-box. You know how the blasted toy pops up and scares the hell out of you even though you are half expecting it? Well I think breastfeeding a teething baby is akin to that. You know that at some point that baby is just itching to try out those new teeth and like that damn jack-in-the-box, it always manages to scare the bejeesuz out of you! Oh, and it also hurts.


The new tooth...look closely!

We have hit a stumbling block with the little Miss when it comes to her weight gain though. For a couple of months now, she has only been putting on meagre amounts, and this past month, she has only put on 190gms. This now means she has just about dropped off the bottom of those growth charts. At 8 months old, she only weighs 6.5kg. This is simply unbelievable as she eats like a horse (more than Tom) and has yet to knock back any food. She is already onto lumpy food. We are returning in 2 weeks time, instead of the usual month, to keep a close eye on her weight gain.

Runnin' ragged

A few of us baseball wives decided last week to take our kids to an indoor playground in Geelong in an attempt to run the bejesus out of them! The boys weren't playing baseball today (was supposed to be tomorrow but the other team subsequently pulled out), so it was an ideal opportunity for us to all spend time as families. The playground was called Run M Ragged and I don't know who gets more worn out; the kids or the adults.

The play equipment

Apart from the obvious - the fabbo playground equipment - two things rated very highly in my books. One, the entry cost is only based on kids that are walking - adults & babies are free! A real turn up for the books. Our entry cost was $8.50 (for Thomas) and we spent 4 hours there. And two, the admission fee is for all day. So if you have to leave and want to come back, then you don't pay again to get back in. Wonderful. Truly refreshing to see such value for money. And let me assure you, it really is good value for money. The kids go crazy with delight once they get in there and apart from the occasional crashing into other kids, there is very little that can be the cause of their undoing. In fact, the only tears you may experience all day are the ones that are shed when you are attempting to get the child out of the buidling and into the car. We did.

Mark & Tom

Hannah, Richelle, Mark & Tom ready to descend

At first, Tom needed Daddy's support to get his courage up, but after a couple of goes, there was no turning back for him. I reckon he went up and down that slide about 50 times!

Almost airborne!

High in the sky

On the jumping castle

There is a seperate area for babies and toddlers, not because they are not allowed on the bigger equipment, but more to keep bigger kids out of an area designed for just them. But Tom and his friends Hannah and Kyle, were just as happy (maybe even moreso) to mix it with the bigger kids and the really big kids (aka their dads) on the slides, jumping castle and obsticle course. Even Bridie took a turn at going down the big slide, courtesy of her godfather.

Bridie playing in toddler area

Bridie & Mooka going down the big slide


Tom & Alfie in the toddler area

If you have kids that like mine, just never seem to run out of batteries and you haven't been to one of these playgrounds, I suggest that you drop everything and get to one. Now! Whilst I cannot say that the battle to get them out of there will be easy, the ensuing peace for the rest of the day and evening is truly something to behold.

If it doesn't rain.....

After months of not going anywhere, not doing anything out of the ordinary, seeing the same old faces day in day out, doing the same old thing.....all of a sudden our social calendar is simply bursting! And quite frankly, I am overjoyed by it!

It started with my trip to Sydney to attend the scrapbooking retreat. To paraphrase (and apologies to) Paul Keating, this weekend away was the break I needed to have. I think the whole migraine episode and the subsequent long recovery after it was due in part to simply being overstretched. I was trying to do too much in the small amount of time allocated to me in a day. Starting my days at 4.15am to feed demanding calves and not finishing my days until around midnight was truly attempting to burn the candle at both ends. The weekend was fantastic and I really enjoyed catching up with the ladies that I had befriended last year and meeting new ones this time round. And I also managed to do more work this time too! This layout in particular I quiet like. Having the opportunity to see firsthand other people's work helped me identify and categorise my own work. I would have to say that I definately fit into the "clean and simple" box. My work tends to focus on the photo rather the embellishments and whilst this example doesn't have much journalling, as a rule, I do tend to favour a bit of text on the page. Mind you, this beautiful photo of me at 38+ weeks pregnant with Bridie taken by the ever talented Wal Slow really helps to create a lovely layout.

The following Friday night Mark and I went to Melbourne to watch Melbourne Storm thump Sydney Roosters at Olympic Park. Mark was given 2 tickets to the match which included entry into the Robbie Kearn's Jim Beam Lounge (thankyou Lachie & Bec). Free food and drinks and a fantastic view of the game. Of course, with all that free grog, we simply had to make a night of it and we stayed in Melbourne. Mark was playing baseball the following day, so we hightailed it back to Colac so he could play, but I also had to take Tom to a little friend's 3rd birthday party. The rushing about didn't stop there either as we had a surprise 50th the attend to that night.

This weekend we are off to one of those indoor kids adventure playgrounds with some of the other baseball families, and then the following weekend we are headed back to Melbourne to watch Emma do her deb. Three weeks after that we are back down to Melbourne again to celebrate Bernadette's 50th birthday (which also happens to be medieval themed...sooooo looking forward to that!!). I will scarcely have a moment to draw breath! Before I know it, we'll be celebrating Bridie's first birthday!!

It must also be the season for babies. A friend of mine had a baby boy earlier in the week, another had her 4th baby - her 4th girl! - yesterday and my good friend Lou has just informed me that she is expected #3 early next year!

And on the subject of new life, we have committed to purchasing a puppy. In a first for both Mark and myself, we will be actually spending money on acquiring a pet. In the past, we have both relied on the fact that there are a plethora of animals out there that need a good home and the vast majority of them are being given away. But, as much as it goes against my grain to purchase a dog, I have to admit that it is all quite exciting. Our vet, Mike, has a family tradition of owning Australian terriers. They only have one at a time, and as each one is replaced, the successor is given the same name as those that have come before it. "Tiny". I don't know which version they are up to (maybe v.5??). But we have had the good fortune to see this particular breed in a variety of circumstances and they really are a good temperament dog with kids, whilst at the same time, having a bit of guts about them. I am not a small dog person, but I think that this dog is going to fit very well into life here at Craiglands.

The pups (2 bitches; 2 dogs) were born while I was away in Sydney, and on our way to the rugby, Mark and I called in to see them and possibly decide on which one we would have. Apparently, the pure red ones are rarer, but there was only one black and red one in the litter and I thought that this one was a bit "spesh" so we have decided on taking that one. It is also a dog, which is good. Because they are from a stud and are pure bred, they all get papers. We get to provide a couple of the names for it's papers. Oh Lord...I have a hard enough time trying to name some of the cows, let alone now having to do it for a damn dog! 'Werireds' is the name of the dog stud, and we figure that it should have 'Craiglands' in there somewhere as well. Now we just have to decide on a third name for the papers. Maybe something to do with the Olympics????????

'Thelma' with her brood

Our little man...fits snugly into Mark's hand!

Migraine madness

As I mentioned in my last post, I hope to avoid the migraine that plagued me at last year's scrapping retreat. And it seems that I may just do that. Because I got one EARLY! I spent most of last week in either the doctor's rooms or admitted in hospital, being jabbed in the bum with pain relief, hooked up to IV drips and being pumped full of antihemetics. Lovely. Whilst a couple of days primed full of pethadine may sound like a real treat, I can assure you - and any doctors out there that think that true migraine sufferers that ask for peth are just abridged junkies - that through the haze of it all, you can still feel the pain of the migraine. A lot. In fact, more than a lot.

Many people think that a migraine is a really bad headache. Ahhhh, no. Definately, 100%, no. It is extremely difficult for migraine sufferers to articulate what it is like to have an attack. Even many medically trained professionals are unable to empathise with you. Which makes for an extremely unpleasant time when you are at your most vunerable, puking the lining of your insides up, trying to simply concentrate on convincing yourself that the pain in your head really won't cause your brain to explode or leak out of your ears. And doing all this whilst recapping the past 10 years of your migraine plagued life to a doctor that seems unable (or unwilling) to read a damn history chart!!!! Arrghhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Tom showing concern over mummy's ill health

But I'm all better now, thanks. And a good thing too, as I am only days away from going to Sydney. Now if I could only recapture the days lost last week so I can get everything done here before I have to leave.

The Luckystrike cow that we were priming to be flushed, has completed her fertility treatments and on Monday she gave us 9 beautiful embryos. I am so proud! We had organised to have 10 recipient cows prepared, but simply putting them through their own fertility treatments does not alone mean that they will actually be recips. The vet doing the embryo transfers feels their ovaries and uterus and makes a determination as to their capacity to hold a pregnancy. You will never get 100%, and we knew that we would have some rejected. In the end, 5 out of the 10 were suitable and they all had embryops implanted. The remaining 4 embryos were frozen and they will be implanted next week into cows that have natural cycles.

So the upshot of all of this, is that we are crossing our fingers for possibly 4 or 5 live calves in 9 months time.

2 embryos under microscope