I did an exercise class tonight. It was a circuit workout with FIT people.
My body is killing me. In total I did...
300 star jumps
500 dumb bell punches
60 pushups
then it all fizzles out...
50 arm raises
50 lateral arm raises
30 burpees (they are worst exercise ever invented)
30 mountain climbers
8 crunches
It was hideous. I'm nowhere near fit enough for that class. But I gave it a go. BTW I only did half of it. I did two circuits and Adam was saying they were going to do 4 circuits. HOLY CRAP. Took me two hours to stop being red in the face.
Tomorrow morning I'm back. I think my "day 3" workout is funny.
My warm up is a good paced 800m row.
First set 400m row fast as I can - break for 90 sec - repeat x 3. At least I think that's what it is.
Lucky I get a piece of paper to tell me.
Diet is not going quite as well. Still not quite organised enough.
Having lunch with my gorgeous mumma tomorrow. have invited my sister too, but she hasn't responded.
:(((
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Universe aligning.
Or at least that is what it feels like.
From my previous post, I have taken a stand.
I did join the gym - have been twice so far - and am aching from head to toe. Those exercises are HARD man.
I joined a weight loss support group - run by Herbalife and my friend Kellie, and so far they are not pushing the products... but wait for it.
I was called by my Health Insurance company to be involved in Health Coaching. Its free. I did the prelim discussion and set some goals.
How does this happen?
So.
My get healthy/weight loss journey has begun.
Today I am 77km and am 99cm around my belly (who needed to know that?)
I also pledge to keep my kitchen clean
I will attend the gym 3 times per week (or more)
WHAT is this nonsense about the kitchen???
- It upsets me no end that my house is messy (found out today its not as dirty as I thought it was - others are dirtier), I stress if anyone comes to visit that there is crap all over my kitchen. I want a clean kitchen and its up to me.
The Health Coach asked for obtainable goals that will help my physical and mental health. I was embarrassed - a little bit - to say a clean kitchen and going to the gym are my goals.
With those two done, the other areas of my life - poor sleep, anger, frustration, postponing everything should fall into line.
From my previous post, I have taken a stand.
I did join the gym - have been twice so far - and am aching from head to toe. Those exercises are HARD man.
I joined a weight loss support group - run by Herbalife and my friend Kellie, and so far they are not pushing the products... but wait for it.
I was called by my Health Insurance company to be involved in Health Coaching. Its free. I did the prelim discussion and set some goals.
How does this happen?
So.
My get healthy/weight loss journey has begun.
Today I am 77km and am 99cm around my belly (who needed to know that?)
I also pledge to keep my kitchen clean
I will attend the gym 3 times per week (or more)
WHAT is this nonsense about the kitchen???
- It upsets me no end that my house is messy (found out today its not as dirty as I thought it was - others are dirtier), I stress if anyone comes to visit that there is crap all over my kitchen. I want a clean kitchen and its up to me.
The Health Coach asked for obtainable goals that will help my physical and mental health. I was embarrassed - a little bit - to say a clean kitchen and going to the gym are my goals.
With those two done, the other areas of my life - poor sleep, anger, frustration, postponing everything should fall into line.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Planning and starting afresh
I've been down recently - like really down, bordering on depressed down. Felt mildly suicidal* at times, but it gets sorted with a good cry. I do health assessments on people and during these health assessments I say a certain mantra "everything is improved with diet and exercise"
Since returning from Thailand, my diet has dissolved into a puddle of peanut butter and I haven't moved. No exercise at all. I'm getting fatter, my tummy is bigger than my boobies and I'm exhausted.
"Everything is solved with diet and exercise"
The time has come, the time is now. Christy D Storer will you please go now... and do some exercise.
If you haven't already worked it out, I'm going to exercise, join a gym, the one next to the crèche.
My promise to myself is
- I will go to bed earlier.
- I will wake up earlier.
- I will go to the gym and work my butt off.
- I will improve my eating - more vegetables, less bread
- I will take time to enjoy my children.
- I will take time to enjoy my husband.
* Thought about it, no definite plan, just looking for an out.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
This is me - Part Three
Growing up, teenage years:
*What activities did you participate in? (Sports, dancing, music, arts, etc.) Explain what you did with each activity.
*How did you learn how to drive? What kind of car did you have?
*Who were your friends?
*Did you have a girl/boy friend? Talk about him/her (if your spouse is okay with it!).
*What did you like/dislike about school?
*What was your first paid job?
*What were your chores at home?
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1. Oh dear, I can't remember, I think I did netball until I was about 12. We were in girls brigade, but can't remember how long that went. I'm guessing not too far into high school. We were pretty involved in church, so I went to the teen version of Sunday School and youth group. Will have to check with mum on that front.
2. I had a couple of lessons with one of dad's Kiwanis mates who was a driving instructor (luckily he wasn't a butcher - he was pretty good) then I was driving with mum and dad. I was super keen. Got my learners permit as soon as they changed the age from 17 to 16 and I was about 16.5years old when I got my L's. My dad was EXTREMELY laid back about it. I recall fairly early on that we got into the car and he got out the newspaper to read. "DAD I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING YET, YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION"
A running family joke was my indicating skills. We had a family holiday to Lakes Entrance, the streets there are very VERY long and very wide. Very safe for learning. Dad said, you have to turn right at Fish Street. So I turned the indicator on to show I was planning to turn right. The problem was Fish St was well over a kilometre down the road. Even now if someone has accidentally left their blinkers on Dad will say "oh they must be turning at Fish St"
I got my license at 8.30am on my 18th birthday. It was at the RACV in Box Hill. Today driving in Box Hill is terrifying, so many cars, wide (as in multi-laned roads) and the fact that I managed to pass my driving test first time, in Box Hill during peak hour is amazing.
I used mum & dad's cars. The first car I actually purchased was my bubble Mazda 121 (forgotten how to get images off the internet) all the extras and a spoiler I thought I was so cool.
3. My friends were Kellie and Sonia. Still friends with Kellie, we actually had lunch today (with 6 children - 3 were hers, 2 were mine and a ring in), we were not part of the cool crowd, but not unpopular either.
4. I got my first boyfriend (Andrew) when I was 16, we met at a church camp. I thought he was wonderful - obviously. I lived in Templestowe and he lived in Essendon. Which is pretty close to where I live now and it takes 40 minutes to get to my parents house. We were dedicated. Travelled by train or bus to visit each other. He lived with his father and brother, his step-mother and her three kids. They had only gotten married about a year before I met him and they were a fiery couple. Poor Andrew was not treated very well at all by his parents. They didn't cook - he ate a lot of 2minute noddles and 10 minute pasta & sauce. His parents screamed a lot. I stayed with him for 6 years! Yep until I was 22 years old. He wasn't faithful to me, I let it slide a couple of times.. but we grew apart. He remained my friend. He got Marko a "being born" present. I ran into him about a year ago during my lunch break. He looks the same - dorky hairstyle and in the most politically incorrect way looks "gay". He is married (I went to his wedding) with one daughter, Idalya who is around 10 or 11 now.
5. I liked school. I liked hanging out by the lockers and having people walk over our legs. We talked a lot. Can't recall much else. I always think back fondly about my school years.
6. Talk about nepotism. My dad employed me as a courier when I was 18 years old. He ran a pathology courier company - outsourced for a tiny little pathology company that got swallowed up when the biggies came in. I had to collect blood samples from doctors surgeries on a Tuesday evening and my Saturday morning run. I loved it. Listened to RRR a movie show I think on the Saturday mornings - I heard his voice again recently on the radio and it bought back so many memories. My goodness, I haven't done that job since 1992 and just looked at the Triple R radio guide and Film Buff's Forecast is still a radio show on Saturday's from midday until 2pm. WOW. That's been running for over 20 years!
Oh and Dad overpaid me, I got $200 per week. My sister got the same money for washing the cars and doing something with the books.
7. Honestly... no idea on the chores front. Help out would be the chore.
*What activities did you participate in? (Sports, dancing, music, arts, etc.) Explain what you did with each activity.
*How did you learn how to drive? What kind of car did you have?
*Who were your friends?
*Did you have a girl/boy friend? Talk about him/her (if your spouse is okay with it!).
*What did you like/dislike about school?
*What was your first paid job?
*What were your chores at home?
-----------------------
1. Oh dear, I can't remember, I think I did netball until I was about 12. We were in girls brigade, but can't remember how long that went. I'm guessing not too far into high school. We were pretty involved in church, so I went to the teen version of Sunday School and youth group. Will have to check with mum on that front.
2. I had a couple of lessons with one of dad's Kiwanis mates who was a driving instructor (luckily he wasn't a butcher - he was pretty good) then I was driving with mum and dad. I was super keen. Got my learners permit as soon as they changed the age from 17 to 16 and I was about 16.5years old when I got my L's. My dad was EXTREMELY laid back about it. I recall fairly early on that we got into the car and he got out the newspaper to read. "DAD I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING YET, YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION"
A running family joke was my indicating skills. We had a family holiday to Lakes Entrance, the streets there are very VERY long and very wide. Very safe for learning. Dad said, you have to turn right at Fish Street. So I turned the indicator on to show I was planning to turn right. The problem was Fish St was well over a kilometre down the road. Even now if someone has accidentally left their blinkers on Dad will say "oh they must be turning at Fish St"
I got my license at 8.30am on my 18th birthday. It was at the RACV in Box Hill. Today driving in Box Hill is terrifying, so many cars, wide (as in multi-laned roads) and the fact that I managed to pass my driving test first time, in Box Hill during peak hour is amazing.
I used mum & dad's cars. The first car I actually purchased was my bubble Mazda 121 (forgotten how to get images off the internet) all the extras and a spoiler I thought I was so cool.
3. My friends were Kellie and Sonia. Still friends with Kellie, we actually had lunch today (with 6 children - 3 were hers, 2 were mine and a ring in), we were not part of the cool crowd, but not unpopular either.
4. I got my first boyfriend (Andrew) when I was 16, we met at a church camp. I thought he was wonderful - obviously. I lived in Templestowe and he lived in Essendon. Which is pretty close to where I live now and it takes 40 minutes to get to my parents house. We were dedicated. Travelled by train or bus to visit each other. He lived with his father and brother, his step-mother and her three kids. They had only gotten married about a year before I met him and they were a fiery couple. Poor Andrew was not treated very well at all by his parents. They didn't cook - he ate a lot of 2minute noddles and 10 minute pasta & sauce. His parents screamed a lot. I stayed with him for 6 years! Yep until I was 22 years old. He wasn't faithful to me, I let it slide a couple of times.. but we grew apart. He remained my friend. He got Marko a "being born" present. I ran into him about a year ago during my lunch break. He looks the same - dorky hairstyle and in the most politically incorrect way looks "gay". He is married (I went to his wedding) with one daughter, Idalya who is around 10 or 11 now.
5. I liked school. I liked hanging out by the lockers and having people walk over our legs. We talked a lot. Can't recall much else. I always think back fondly about my school years.
6. Talk about nepotism. My dad employed me as a courier when I was 18 years old. He ran a pathology courier company - outsourced for a tiny little pathology company that got swallowed up when the biggies came in. I had to collect blood samples from doctors surgeries on a Tuesday evening and my Saturday morning run. I loved it. Listened to RRR a movie show I think on the Saturday mornings - I heard his voice again recently on the radio and it bought back so many memories. My goodness, I haven't done that job since 1992 and just looked at the Triple R radio guide and Film Buff's Forecast is still a radio show on Saturday's from midday until 2pm. WOW. That's been running for over 20 years!
Oh and Dad overpaid me, I got $200 per week. My sister got the same money for washing the cars and doing something with the books.
7. Honestly... no idea on the chores front. Help out would be the chore.
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
sad stuff happening
Yesterday there were two snippets of information off the Internet that made me very sad. I don't know either woman personally.
First is Courtney from a long favorite blog pudge and biggie. This woman with her husband has adopted two children with down syndrome. They've since had a biological child and are pregnant with their 4th child. She is an inspiration on parenting, special needs and photography. Anyway, yesterday she found/was alerted to a photo of her eldest daughter with an awful caption. someone had gone to the effort of finding LC and bullied her and her parents and people with DS generally. It broke my heart. I was so surprised and hurt by this. Courtney has now made her blog private (very sad about that) and she needs to recover. Please pick on me... not my child.
Second is a girl on the sidelines of a beautiful mess. She has a young daughter whose photo has been picked up by trolls and turned into "baby slut" supposedly its funny but in reality its gross hurtful and creepy. She's a baby!!
I put my children on the Internet. That makes me nervous. What if my boys photos are in something like that. If I don't know about it does it not matter.
Feeling a little sick with the world today.
First is Courtney from a long favorite blog pudge and biggie. This woman with her husband has adopted two children with down syndrome. They've since had a biological child and are pregnant with their 4th child. She is an inspiration on parenting, special needs and photography. Anyway, yesterday she found/was alerted to a photo of her eldest daughter with an awful caption. someone had gone to the effort of finding LC and bullied her and her parents and people with DS generally. It broke my heart. I was so surprised and hurt by this. Courtney has now made her blog private (very sad about that) and she needs to recover. Please pick on me... not my child.
Second is a girl on the sidelines of a beautiful mess. She has a young daughter whose photo has been picked up by trolls and turned into "baby slut" supposedly its funny but in reality its gross hurtful and creepy. She's a baby!!
I put my children on the Internet. That makes me nervous. What if my boys photos are in something like that. If I don't know about it does it not matter.
Feeling a little sick with the world today.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
STRANGE THINGS............about the computer.
This is just a little bit of randomness...
Jamie always types in the full URL, even if the one he is looking for pops up as a suggestion. Drives me bonkers.
After living in Melbourne for the past 18 months, I have have the Newcastle tv guide as our computer based tv guide, everytime I open it up (from the bookmarks), I have to then click on home - Melbourne and so it goes through three screens to get to the page I want. But for some reason I don't actually want to change it.
Jamie has over 30,000 emails stored on this computer and I don't think he's got a back up. He won't delete the trash - just in case.
Our computer NEVER gets turned off.
We run Linux - not Windows, not apple. But the nerd operating system that is Linux and I can't install anything.
I don't know how to watch a movie or tv show online. I feel that makes me very backward.
Jamie always types in the full URL, even if the one he is looking for pops up as a suggestion. Drives me bonkers.
After living in Melbourne for the past 18 months, I have have the Newcastle tv guide as our computer based tv guide, everytime I open it up (from the bookmarks), I have to then click on home - Melbourne and so it goes through three screens to get to the page I want. But for some reason I don't actually want to change it.
Jamie has over 30,000 emails stored on this computer and I don't think he's got a back up. He won't delete the trash - just in case.
Our computer NEVER gets turned off.
We run Linux - not Windows, not apple. But the nerd operating system that is Linux and I can't install anything.
I don't know how to watch a movie or tv show online. I feel that makes me very backward.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
My original baby is 15!
That is just ridiculous. He can't be 15. He's still a boy. We've had a pretty good time Mark and I. Started out just the two of us, spent every moment together, then we started uni together. He went to the daycare on campus and I did my nursing degree. We met and started dating Jamie. Then we moved in with Jamie. Then we moved together and started new lives in the same week. He started kinder/prep and I started my new grad year. Anyway blah blah blah.
Some good past stories about Mark are: his birth, and starting high school. Looking back over this blog, he seems to frustrate me, but he is also fabulous.
Anyway he turned the big one five today. He is officially allowed to watch an MA movie, he's officially allowed to play the xbox games he has been playing for the past 3 years. The 365 day count down to getting his learners permit has commenced.
This evening we had the family party. It was awesome. Such a friendly occasion. All the kids got along. Everyone ate. Good singing of the favourite Happy Birthday song. Such a shame my in-laws live so far away.
My mini photo shoot - all my kids and all the cousins in the same pic. First time ever got them all at once. For those who don't know, from left to right is: Roy, Sheena, Ben, Mark (the big one), Zahli, Toby and Ryan. A selected few.
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| Nice, but Mark looks bewildered. |
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| All the littlies are great, Mark looks "blue steele" |
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| Happy with this one, but wacky Sheena. |
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| Ryan is doing a silly smile. |
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| Happy kid |
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| Just prior to blowing out the candles. |
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| The huge family dinner. |
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Following rules - is it really that hard?
A little something that has been bothering me for some time now. Its the modern way, "surely they are not talking to me?" that the world seems to think.
What is it I'm talking about.
Mobile phones!
I'm as addicted as the next person (as is evident by my data usage on my smart phone), but I don't use it when driving, at a petrol station or on a plane. To be completely truthful, I don't believe that there is a problem to use a phone on a plane or at the petrol station, but they ask you not to, so I don't.
On the other hand I do think there is a problem when using a phone when driving (not sitting at traffic lights, but that's another story), so not since 2002 have I used a mobile whilst driving. The time I did use it was in a traffic jam along Mickleham Road. It was inching traffic, took half an hour to go 1km and I had a chat to my mum. When the traffic sped up a police car was next to me, told me never to use my phone again and I haven't!
This past weekend Jamie and I flew to Newcastle for the weekend. We both turned our phones to flight mode and had them off before we got on. Like they ask you to. Anyone who knows Jamie realises this is a big deal for him to turn it off. But he always does. Doesn't look like many others follow suit. The number of people texting whilst on the plane is just flabbergasting. Text messages going off the whole flight, *they don't even make it silent* , even when directly asked to turn off the phone, they just glare and put it in their pocket - not off.
Like I say, I can't think that there would be a problem, but they ask you to turn it off, so for 1.5 hours can it be off?? Can it?
I don't believe there is a need to turn it off at the Medicare office or in hospitals (maybe if you were in ICU) or at your GPs office. We have huge signs at my work saying *Please turn off your phone it interferes with the sensitive medical equipment* and everyone in the waiting room is on their mobiles. Go for it guys.
What is it I'm talking about.
Mobile phones!
I'm as addicted as the next person (as is evident by my data usage on my smart phone), but I don't use it when driving, at a petrol station or on a plane. To be completely truthful, I don't believe that there is a problem to use a phone on a plane or at the petrol station, but they ask you not to, so I don't.
On the other hand I do think there is a problem when using a phone when driving (not sitting at traffic lights, but that's another story), so not since 2002 have I used a mobile whilst driving. The time I did use it was in a traffic jam along Mickleham Road. It was inching traffic, took half an hour to go 1km and I had a chat to my mum. When the traffic sped up a police car was next to me, told me never to use my phone again and I haven't!
This past weekend Jamie and I flew to Newcastle for the weekend. We both turned our phones to flight mode and had them off before we got on. Like they ask you to. Anyone who knows Jamie realises this is a big deal for him to turn it off. But he always does. Doesn't look like many others follow suit. The number of people texting whilst on the plane is just flabbergasting. Text messages going off the whole flight, *they don't even make it silent* , even when directly asked to turn off the phone, they just glare and put it in their pocket - not off.
Like I say, I can't think that there would be a problem, but they ask you to turn it off, so for 1.5 hours can it be off?? Can it?
I don't believe there is a need to turn it off at the Medicare office or in hospitals (maybe if you were in ICU) or at your GPs office. We have huge signs at my work saying *Please turn off your phone it interferes with the sensitive medical equipment* and everyone in the waiting room is on their mobiles. Go for it guys.
Thursday, June 06, 2013
Park Life
Have I mentioned how I love my new camera. I take great photos.
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| Up the big hill to the park |
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| Our seriously cool park - minus a UFO swing (stolen by idiots) |
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| Sliding |
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| Gorgeous Ben, our "assertive wild child" |
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| Playing |
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Cuz
FINALLY saw my sister again, I don't think we'd seen each other since her birthday, which was a month before - I could be wrong. Just as they were about to leave, we pulled the "good camera" out for a photo shoot. We must learn some better poses and a better backdrop. But we are still learning! Oh and please don't ask about the band-aid on Ryan's forehead, he obviously needed it earlier in the day and we forgot it was there.
Here is a smattering...
Here is a smattering...
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| "cheese" |
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| Ok, no more cheese. Too cool Sheena YOLO |
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| Ben being held hostage, Sheena stealing the show. |
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| That's enough Sheena. |
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| Seriously dude.. move your hand. |
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| Love the height order shot |
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| Ryan |
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| Ben |
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| Roy |
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| Sheena |
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Cracking up
Well its the story of my life. Feeling totally overwhelmed and like I'm going out of my mind. Its my normal.
Both boys have "Hand Foot and Mouth Disease" its the Coxsackie Virus, a self limiting illness causing blisters on (surprise) the hands feet and mouth. The ones in the mouth make it painful for little people to eat. It apparently makes them VERY cranky with their mother. My mum and dad looked after Ben for two days (he got it first) and supposedly he was wonderful. Polite, playful, nice to be around. For me... he's sooky, whiny, aggressive and very unpleasant to be around.
The other week when I was sick in hospital, they were delightful creatures for Connie and the grandparents.. but as soon as I arrived, tears, misbehaviour etc. That's just Ben and to be honest Ryan isn't much better.
They see the cracks and then they push. They fight like crazy, snatching stuff off each other, punching, kicking and today biting.
I'm going to a counseling session (I mean Maternal Health Nurse) session on Tuesday for Ben. Behaviour and stopping those I wish to stop are at the top of the list of things to discuss. A month ago I thought my problem was the dummy - now that's gone. Well I just don't cope with 2 year olds.
He doesn't have a calm down button. Ryan loves the tv/tablet/phone. Ben isn't technology based, he's not a sweet tooth, not a huge fan of drinks (although this week he's loving his milk)
I had a melt down (read cry) when I was doing the dishes and I'm very sad to say that there was no one there to tell me I was doing a good job. I was very short with them today, one particular "naughty spot" was horrible and took almost half an hour and I was pretty close to losing my cool.
Anyway must hang in there, they are sick and need some leniency.
I am doing a good job! There are three of them and only one of me.
Both boys have "Hand Foot and Mouth Disease" its the Coxsackie Virus, a self limiting illness causing blisters on (surprise) the hands feet and mouth. The ones in the mouth make it painful for little people to eat. It apparently makes them VERY cranky with their mother. My mum and dad looked after Ben for two days (he got it first) and supposedly he was wonderful. Polite, playful, nice to be around. For me... he's sooky, whiny, aggressive and very unpleasant to be around.
The other week when I was sick in hospital, they were delightful creatures for Connie and the grandparents.. but as soon as I arrived, tears, misbehaviour etc. That's just Ben and to be honest Ryan isn't much better.
They see the cracks and then they push. They fight like crazy, snatching stuff off each other, punching, kicking and today biting.
I'm going to a counseling session (I mean Maternal Health Nurse) session on Tuesday for Ben. Behaviour and stopping those I wish to stop are at the top of the list of things to discuss. A month ago I thought my problem was the dummy - now that's gone. Well I just don't cope with 2 year olds.
He doesn't have a calm down button. Ryan loves the tv/tablet/phone. Ben isn't technology based, he's not a sweet tooth, not a huge fan of drinks (although this week he's loving his milk)
I had a melt down (read cry) when I was doing the dishes and I'm very sad to say that there was no one there to tell me I was doing a good job. I was very short with them today, one particular "naughty spot" was horrible and took almost half an hour and I was pretty close to losing my cool.
Anyway must hang in there, they are sick and need some leniency.
I am doing a good job! There are three of them and only one of me.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
This is me - Part two
Growing up, early years:
*Where did you grow up? Describe it.
*What was your earliest memory?
*What games did you play as a child?
*Where did you go to school?
*Who were your friends?
*Who were your favorite teachers and why?
*What were your chores?
========================================
As mentioned in the previous post, I was born in Germany, lived there until I was one. Then we moved to Canada my preschool years were there. Unfortunately I have no memories other than what I have seen in photographs. The winters were very cold and snowy, the summers were like here, warm. When I was 5 we moved to Australia, dad was sick of the winters and my uncle lived in Melbourne so that is where we ended up.
I started school when I was three, I'm guessing it was a kindergarten type program. Caught the bus there. Mum walked me to the bus stop and from what she told me, I would not get off the bus at the end of the day without holding mum's hand... just in case there was a dog. My phobia of dogs was out of control, I was bitten by a dog when mum was babysitting when I was about two years old. It drove a fear of dogs into me so great that to this day I still jump when I hear a dog bark and hate walking down new streets alone.
In Canada, I'm not sure what I did with my time, I'm guessing girlie stuff, as we grew older Jo and I loved Barbies. We went ice skating in the winter. Ummm.... a big gaping hole there. Not sure what I did.
School... in Canada was a biggie, no idea what its name was, I've always said it was a kindy to year 12 school. Not sure if that's true though. In Australia, I went to Templestowe Valley Primary School. I loved school. My favourite teacher was Miss Bell (either grade 3 or 4) I thought she was so cool. She taught us cursive writing and for some reason I thought it was against the rules and she was a rebel, probably why I liked her. I was PAINFULLY shy as a kid, blushing red faces were the bane of my existence to the point that I wouldn't speak in class - ever. In high school the thought and reality of an oral presentation was terrifying.
Friends for the purpose of this is entirely irrelevant. The only person from my infant-primary school years that I am ever likely to run into again is Tanya, as she is a Facebook friend. But I had a good group of friends.
Chores - no specified ones (that I can recall) I guess we did whatever mum told us to do.
OOOH, my memory is not so good. Not very happy about that.
*Where did you grow up? Describe it.
*What was your earliest memory?
*What games did you play as a child?
*Where did you go to school?
*Who were your friends?
*Who were your favorite teachers and why?
*What were your chores?
========================================
As mentioned in the previous post, I was born in Germany, lived there until I was one. Then we moved to Canada my preschool years were there. Unfortunately I have no memories other than what I have seen in photographs. The winters were very cold and snowy, the summers were like here, warm. When I was 5 we moved to Australia, dad was sick of the winters and my uncle lived in Melbourne so that is where we ended up.
I started school when I was three, I'm guessing it was a kindergarten type program. Caught the bus there. Mum walked me to the bus stop and from what she told me, I would not get off the bus at the end of the day without holding mum's hand... just in case there was a dog. My phobia of dogs was out of control, I was bitten by a dog when mum was babysitting when I was about two years old. It drove a fear of dogs into me so great that to this day I still jump when I hear a dog bark and hate walking down new streets alone.
In Canada, I'm not sure what I did with my time, I'm guessing girlie stuff, as we grew older Jo and I loved Barbies. We went ice skating in the winter. Ummm.... a big gaping hole there. Not sure what I did.
School... in Canada was a biggie, no idea what its name was, I've always said it was a kindy to year 12 school. Not sure if that's true though. In Australia, I went to Templestowe Valley Primary School. I loved school. My favourite teacher was Miss Bell (either grade 3 or 4) I thought she was so cool. She taught us cursive writing and for some reason I thought it was against the rules and she was a rebel, probably why I liked her. I was PAINFULLY shy as a kid, blushing red faces were the bane of my existence to the point that I wouldn't speak in class - ever. In high school the thought and reality of an oral presentation was terrifying.
Friends for the purpose of this is entirely irrelevant. The only person from my infant-primary school years that I am ever likely to run into again is Tanya, as she is a Facebook friend. But I had a good group of friends.
Chores - no specified ones (that I can recall) I guess we did whatever mum told us to do.
OOOH, my memory is not so good. Not very happy about that.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
This is Me - Challenge.
Thankfully there is no time frame for this one. Wasn't able to do the photo a day challenge... but
This is a history of me. There are many parts to this challenge. I found it on Pinterest (my newest obsession).
The full set of questions can be found here. Over the coming weeks and months and I will compile the answers and come up with a full history of me!
Your birth and family:
*What is your full name and how did you get that name? Do you have any nicknames?
*What are your parent's full names and birth dates and places?
*What is the date of your birth? Where were you born? What are some of the circumstances (when your mom went in to labor, how long, her doctor, your dad fainting, etc.) of your birth?
*What are your sibling's full names and birth dates?
*How was your relationship with your siblings and parents?
*What are some lessons you learned from you parents?
*How did you help in your home?
Part one:
* My name was originally Christy Dawn Lantz. The history of the my name - that I know - is that mum was reading a book called "Christy" by Catherine Marshall, and fell in love with the qualities of the character. She was a school teacher/missionary, so I've always had a lot to live up to. Dawn was just a favourite name and surprisingly Lantz is my dad's surname. Lantz was always problematic, the spelling is all wrong, everyone wants to do Lance, but its the peculiar spelling which I believe is German in origin. Never had any real nicknames, Jocelyn calls me Reg sometimes and my high school friend Kellie always calls me Chris. Otherwise my name is Christy or Mum.
* My mum was originally Rosemary Anne Lill, she was born in Ashburton in New Zealand back in the olden days in 1938.
My dad is Gilford Brian Lantz, but has always been known as Brian, never understood why people do that, give their kids a first name that will never be used. The thing these days is slightly different. Call their daughter Amelia, but always call them Millie. Seriously call your daughter Millie if that is what you want to call them. In Ben's swimming class there is - Maddison (Maddy), Ezekial (Izzy), Millicent (Millie) it makes for a confused bunch of kids. Dad was born in 1942 in (I'm guessing) Nova Scotia in Canada.
* I love my birth story, its unusual and kind of cool. My parents met in Germany in 1972, mum was on a working holiday around Europe with her BFF Betty (who just passed away last week), they were working in a canteen where the Canadian soldiers purchased their food. Their eyes met and it was love at first sight. My parents married in Bath in England (a very romantic setting). Then they moved back to Lahr in Germany where dad was stationed and I was born in the military hospital there. I don't know the full story of my birth, dad was not there - it wasn't customary for husbands to be there in the 1970s and mum had a difficult labour and I was quite unwell at birth, I was in the special care nursery for a week, which meant I wasn't able to be breastfed (an interesting point, how times have changed). We stayed in Germany until I was about one year old when we moved to Canada.
* My sister, Jocelyn Fay was born 19 months after me. She arrived in Nova Scotia in 1975. We were very close as children, like twins. We did everything together were each others best friends. This lasted until I had Mark and then we drifted apart for some time. We are back to being very close but we are very different.
* I'm very close to my mother, sometimes is worries me how dependant I am on her. I've been pleased that in the last two months we have spent quite a lot of time apart, unable to talk on the daily basis that we do and my life didn't fall apart. My relationship with dad is different to mum, he's not a talker. But he will listen to me when I get carried away (which is often)
* Lessons... oh I don't know. My parents are gorgeous people, very generous, friendly and helpful. If I could be half the person they are, I'll be doing great. I'd love to know how mum controlled Jo and I growing up. Goodness knows I need help.
* We had chores. Always helped with the dishes, kept our rooms in order, I did the grocery shopping with mum on Thursdays evenings. Other than that I can't recall.
This is a history of me. There are many parts to this challenge. I found it on Pinterest (my newest obsession).
The full set of questions can be found here. Over the coming weeks and months and I will compile the answers and come up with a full history of me!
Your birth and family:
*What is your full name and how did you get that name? Do you have any nicknames?
*What are your parent's full names and birth dates and places?
*What is the date of your birth? Where were you born? What are some of the circumstances (when your mom went in to labor, how long, her doctor, your dad fainting, etc.) of your birth?
*What are your sibling's full names and birth dates?
*How was your relationship with your siblings and parents?
*What are some lessons you learned from you parents?
*How did you help in your home?
Part one:
* My name was originally Christy Dawn Lantz. The history of the my name - that I know - is that mum was reading a book called "Christy" by Catherine Marshall, and fell in love with the qualities of the character. She was a school teacher/missionary, so I've always had a lot to live up to. Dawn was just a favourite name and surprisingly Lantz is my dad's surname. Lantz was always problematic, the spelling is all wrong, everyone wants to do Lance, but its the peculiar spelling which I believe is German in origin. Never had any real nicknames, Jocelyn calls me Reg sometimes and my high school friend Kellie always calls me Chris. Otherwise my name is Christy or Mum.
* My mum was originally Rosemary Anne Lill, she was born in Ashburton in New Zealand back in the olden days in 1938.
My dad is Gilford Brian Lantz, but has always been known as Brian, never understood why people do that, give their kids a first name that will never be used. The thing these days is slightly different. Call their daughter Amelia, but always call them Millie. Seriously call your daughter Millie if that is what you want to call them. In Ben's swimming class there is - Maddison (Maddy), Ezekial (Izzy), Millicent (Millie) it makes for a confused bunch of kids. Dad was born in 1942 in (I'm guessing) Nova Scotia in Canada.
* I love my birth story, its unusual and kind of cool. My parents met in Germany in 1972, mum was on a working holiday around Europe with her BFF Betty (who just passed away last week), they were working in a canteen where the Canadian soldiers purchased their food. Their eyes met and it was love at first sight. My parents married in Bath in England (a very romantic setting). Then they moved back to Lahr in Germany where dad was stationed and I was born in the military hospital there. I don't know the full story of my birth, dad was not there - it wasn't customary for husbands to be there in the 1970s and mum had a difficult labour and I was quite unwell at birth, I was in the special care nursery for a week, which meant I wasn't able to be breastfed (an interesting point, how times have changed). We stayed in Germany until I was about one year old when we moved to Canada.
* My sister, Jocelyn Fay was born 19 months after me. She arrived in Nova Scotia in 1975. We were very close as children, like twins. We did everything together were each others best friends. This lasted until I had Mark and then we drifted apart for some time. We are back to being very close but we are very different.
* I'm very close to my mother, sometimes is worries me how dependant I am on her. I've been pleased that in the last two months we have spent quite a lot of time apart, unable to talk on the daily basis that we do and my life didn't fall apart. My relationship with dad is different to mum, he's not a talker. But he will listen to me when I get carried away (which is often)
* Lessons... oh I don't know. My parents are gorgeous people, very generous, friendly and helpful. If I could be half the person they are, I'll be doing great. I'd love to know how mum controlled Jo and I growing up. Goodness knows I need help.
* We had chores. Always helped with the dishes, kept our rooms in order, I did the grocery shopping with mum on Thursdays evenings. Other than that I can't recall.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
At the Farm
We spent the last two weekends up at Jamie's parent's farm. Its 2.5hrs away. Here are a select group of pics to sum up the two weekends. This weekend 19th May was Zahli's Christening - full of drama leading up to it, but went off pretty good. I actually missed it as my boys decided that sitting in church today just was not their thing.
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| This picture sums up my boys perfectly. Mark - don't look at me - Ryan - photo ready at every opportunity - Ben - I'm too busy. |
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| Little dudes in the park near Duckland just off the main drag in Nathalia. |
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| I love this photo. Jamie was being VERY animated reading a story and all the boys ran and sat around him to hear what all the fuss was about. This is Jamie looking bashful once he realised I had the camera. |
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| My two fellas now see the camera! |
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| Ben loves Zahli |
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| and I think Zahli loves him back. |
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| A scene from the christening. Gerald the minister and seated is grandpa Stan. |
Friday, May 17, 2013
A very unexpected week.
Today is Friday 17 May... but using a technique often utilised by sitcoms. Our story starts one week earlier.
Sunday 12 May: We were up visiting Jamie's parents. The kids were having a great time on the tractors, motorbikes, watching Mark be a pyromaniac. They love the animals. That morning I woke up with a tummy ache, it wasn't very pleasant, I don't think I had breakfast. Spent a bit of time on the loo (if you know what I mean), excused myself to go and have a little sleep. But the pain would not budge. Around 11am, I convinced Jamie to take me to the little Nathalia hospital. We arrived just as the doc was about to leave so he saw us straight away. I got some loverly panadeine forte, a shot of stemetil and a litre of fluids. Pain ... gone.. We drove home that night, no further complaints.
Monday 13 May: My cold had taken hold so I took the day off, I have an awful cough, it makes people nervous and grosses them out. As I work in a GP clinic, people don't want the girl working there to sound infectious. All was good... cough cough cough. Went to collect the boys around 4pm. Got a wave of the pain again. Wouldn't go away. Thought to myself, I'm not putting up with this, so I made an appointment with Dr Hussain (my boss!), my plan was for Archie to be my doctor, I've stuck to that since leaving Medical One. Don't like the idea of mixing work and my health care. But I was in pain and considered it a bit of an emergency to to Ahsan I went (he's so much closer). He is sooooo lovely. Anyone in the north/west suburbs, make the switch to Dr Ahsan Hussain. To continue with my story, I saw Ahsan he felt my tummy and said the dreaded words "I think its your gallbladder and you need to go to hospital" WHAT?
So super organisation had to take place, my tummy HURT. So I couldn't drive. We have 3 children at home, it was decided that Mark would stay home with the little boys with Connie on standby. Why didn't I call my mum? Well she was on the way to NZ as her lifelong friend had just passed away. My mum and dad ended up arriving at our place just after 7pm to help out. Mum was due at the airport around 10pm and dad would stay overnight or until one or both of us came home. Phew that worked.
Jamie and I headed into the Royal Melbourne Hospital just around 6.30pm, parked in the very expensive car park and went to emergency. Yep they call it emergency but its a waiting area. I got triaged, she said "I'll organise some pain relief soon for you". Got administratively organised. Sat and waited and waited and waited. Around 9.30pm, I went back to triage and said "my pain is pretty bad, I'm very uncomfortable" Would you like some pain relief? I got some panadeine forte and within about half an hour it had settled. Jamie played games on his phone, I was reading a book on my phone. We were enjoying the antics of two brothers sitting in front of us, one had broken/sprained his ankle and the other was a hyperactive bloke, they were texting, watching Game of Thrones on their laptop in a very cute way. The admin girl asked if they were partners before thinking of brothers.
Finally 11pm and my name was called, felt like I had won the lottery. I was essentially pain free at this stage. Young Dr James examined me and blah blah, had to to blood tests (I'll do my rant about emergency rooms another day) and wait for the results. Had an ECG, obs etc and more waiting. After the results came back we were in for a BIG surprise. "We're going to admit you" WHAT???? I was positive it was going to another anxiety attack, but this time I had gallstones or hepatitis A. My bloods showed *deranged* liver function tests that were a little contradictory and as we had been to Thailand recently without being vaccinated, they were concerned about hepatitis.
After a bit I was moved into a very STARK room in the ED. A single bed in the middle of a very bare room, all the equipment was just behind me, nothing to look at and right next to the nurses station where there was a lot of noise, but the door was shut so nothing to look at. Later the next morning I was told it was the psych behaviour room! I thought I was well behaved. Hahaha, so funny.
Tuesday 13th May: 3am, still in the Emergency Department, two youngish doctors arrive they are from the surgical team. They agree I need to be admitted and I require an ultrasound to see if there are gallstones. Yep all good.
9.30am Jamie arrives, we watch the next episode of Game of Thrones on the laptop, there is a LONG section of it that I can't watch, the wilful torture scenes I can't tolerate. Whoops that is beside the point - I love LOVE Game of Thrones, I'm reading it on my phone at the moment. I digress.
Midday comes, I casually ask, any news on when I might go to a ward, or have my ultrasound? Oh... I check....
2pm is transfer to ward time... lets think about this. When I worked at the John Hunter there was a huge kerpuffle called access block when people were 8hrs in ED, I was there for 13 hours and no one appeared concerned. Very weird. BTW, no ultrasound yet!
Went to the top Ward 9W, next to the helipad. Thankfully it was only used twice. Had my ultrasound around 4pm and it was confirmed gallstones with one stuck in the bile duct. Crap, that is what was causing the pain and making my pee a very strange colour - dark yellow if you are interested and sorry if you are not. So a stone was lodged in the common bile duct which means the liver isn't able to work properly either. Hence jaundice. No doctor came.
My dear family came to visit for about half an hour. The boys were so cute, they love elevators so the fact I was on the 9th floor was fantastic. Ben didn't like me being in bed, he wanted me up and to put my shoes on. It was so nice seeing them and cuddling them. But they are very loud and not very good at sitting still.
Tuesday late in the night I asked my nurse, any chance a doctor might come and talk to me about what is going on? She said she had to call him for another patient, so will ask him to talk to me also. This was about 10.30pm when he finally came. He went through it all very nicely, said he wasn't a decision maker but very likely they'd be in to see me in the morning. He was fairly certain they'd be doing either a lap-chole or an ERCP followed by a lap-chole at a later date. It all made sense to me, but then I broke down, I cried and cried and cried. I wanted a proper plan, I was VERY VERY hungry. I had not eaten anything since 10am on Monday morning and it was nearly midnight on Tuesday. My night nurse was lovely she sat next to me, gave me a friendly hug and talked me through it.
Wednesday: Approx 9.30am the team arrived, a very proper looking fellow with a wedge of people (that is a Denny Crane quote from Boston Legal, I'm very important I walk with a wedge of people (or something like that) all senior doctors have a group of people following them in wedge formation and it always makes me laugh), I have no idea what this doctors name was. He was a general abdominal surgeon, he does lap-chole's, but does not do ERCPs, he'll have to call his hepato-biliary colleagues to come and see me. I said "Ok that is great but I have a question" he thought he was clever and said ohh can you eat... nope that wasn't my question.
I have three children at home, my husband works nights and has had to take the previous two days off to look after them, my family is crumbling with me being here, I need a plan and I need one quickly. If the plan is for me to stay for another week, that is ok, but I need that plan. He agreed, said he'd call him personally straight away and get it sorted. Nice enough if he actually does it. Within half an hour the EXTREMELY good looking hepato-biliary registrar was at my bedside, what a shock. He said... ERCP tomorrow, lap-chole in 6 weeks time. Signed the consent and then spent the day eating. Jocelyn came to visit that night, nice little catch up with her.
Thursday: Yep, I'm still in hospital. No work this week! Connie had the little boys stay with her last night so Jamie could go to work. And later in the day they all went up to the farm, Connie drove 4 kids to the farm in our truck. WOW. Back to me... Early breakfast and then my Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP for short) was scheduled for 2.30pm. Lots of IV antibiotics and weirdly a GTN patch, which gave me an instant headache. The nicest bunch of people ever was in that endoscopy room. A gorgeous anaesthetist and nurse, they were so funny and friendly. Met my surgeon Mr Ben Thomson (I still can't believe I didn't mention that I had a Ben, I always do that), anaesthetist said I'll put you to sleep now and a minute later I was in recovery... wow midaz is amazing. Not a single recollection. Stone had moved from my bile duct, but he still did the sphincterotomy. All was good. He came to see me on the ward around 7pm when Jamie and Mark were there. He said he could do the operation privately as soon as Tuesday, but there is no reason not to wait and have it done at the Royal Melbourne publicly. If I got pain at any time in the next six weeks, just give him a call and he'll have it done within two day! That's service.
Friday: Discharged home with no pain and a whole lot of bruises and needle marks. What a mess my arms are.
People to thank this week is Mark the Magnificent for pulling up his socks and taking charge on Monday. Jamie for being wonderful. Dad for going out of his comfort zone and helping with the kids. Connie for, well just being Connie, she's amazing.
Sunday 12 May: We were up visiting Jamie's parents. The kids were having a great time on the tractors, motorbikes, watching Mark be a pyromaniac. They love the animals. That morning I woke up with a tummy ache, it wasn't very pleasant, I don't think I had breakfast. Spent a bit of time on the loo (if you know what I mean), excused myself to go and have a little sleep. But the pain would not budge. Around 11am, I convinced Jamie to take me to the little Nathalia hospital. We arrived just as the doc was about to leave so he saw us straight away. I got some loverly panadeine forte, a shot of stemetil and a litre of fluids. Pain ... gone.. We drove home that night, no further complaints.
Monday 13 May: My cold had taken hold so I took the day off, I have an awful cough, it makes people nervous and grosses them out. As I work in a GP clinic, people don't want the girl working there to sound infectious. All was good... cough cough cough. Went to collect the boys around 4pm. Got a wave of the pain again. Wouldn't go away. Thought to myself, I'm not putting up with this, so I made an appointment with Dr Hussain (my boss!), my plan was for Archie to be my doctor, I've stuck to that since leaving Medical One. Don't like the idea of mixing work and my health care. But I was in pain and considered it a bit of an emergency to to Ahsan I went (he's so much closer). He is sooooo lovely. Anyone in the north/west suburbs, make the switch to Dr Ahsan Hussain. To continue with my story, I saw Ahsan he felt my tummy and said the dreaded words "I think its your gallbladder and you need to go to hospital" WHAT?
Jamie and I headed into the Royal Melbourne Hospital just around 6.30pm, parked in the very expensive car park and went to emergency. Yep they call it emergency but its a waiting area. I got triaged, she said "I'll organise some pain relief soon for you". Got administratively organised. Sat and waited and waited and waited. Around 9.30pm, I went back to triage and said "my pain is pretty bad, I'm very uncomfortable" Would you like some pain relief? I got some panadeine forte and within about half an hour it had settled. Jamie played games on his phone, I was reading a book on my phone. We were enjoying the antics of two brothers sitting in front of us, one had broken/sprained his ankle and the other was a hyperactive bloke, they were texting, watching Game of Thrones on their laptop in a very cute way. The admin girl asked if they were partners before thinking of brothers.
Finally 11pm and my name was called, felt like I had won the lottery. I was essentially pain free at this stage. Young Dr James examined me and blah blah, had to to blood tests (I'll do my rant about emergency rooms another day) and wait for the results. Had an ECG, obs etc and more waiting. After the results came back we were in for a BIG surprise. "We're going to admit you" WHAT???? I was positive it was going to another anxiety attack, but this time I had gallstones or hepatitis A. My bloods showed *deranged* liver function tests that were a little contradictory and as we had been to Thailand recently without being vaccinated, they were concerned about hepatitis.
After a bit I was moved into a very STARK room in the ED. A single bed in the middle of a very bare room, all the equipment was just behind me, nothing to look at and right next to the nurses station where there was a lot of noise, but the door was shut so nothing to look at. Later the next morning I was told it was the psych behaviour room! I thought I was well behaved. Hahaha, so funny.
Tuesday 13th May: 3am, still in the Emergency Department, two youngish doctors arrive they are from the surgical team. They agree I need to be admitted and I require an ultrasound to see if there are gallstones. Yep all good.
9.30am Jamie arrives, we watch the next episode of Game of Thrones on the laptop, there is a LONG section of it that I can't watch, the wilful torture scenes I can't tolerate. Whoops that is beside the point - I love LOVE Game of Thrones, I'm reading it on my phone at the moment. I digress.
Midday comes, I casually ask, any news on when I might go to a ward, or have my ultrasound? Oh... I check....
2pm is transfer to ward time... lets think about this. When I worked at the John Hunter there was a huge kerpuffle called access block when people were 8hrs in ED, I was there for 13 hours and no one appeared concerned. Very weird. BTW, no ultrasound yet!
Went to the top Ward 9W, next to the helipad. Thankfully it was only used twice. Had my ultrasound around 4pm and it was confirmed gallstones with one stuck in the bile duct. Crap, that is what was causing the pain and making my pee a very strange colour - dark yellow if you are interested and sorry if you are not. So a stone was lodged in the common bile duct which means the liver isn't able to work properly either. Hence jaundice. No doctor came.
My dear family came to visit for about half an hour. The boys were so cute, they love elevators so the fact I was on the 9th floor was fantastic. Ben didn't like me being in bed, he wanted me up and to put my shoes on. It was so nice seeing them and cuddling them. But they are very loud and not very good at sitting still.
Tuesday late in the night I asked my nurse, any chance a doctor might come and talk to me about what is going on? She said she had to call him for another patient, so will ask him to talk to me also. This was about 10.30pm when he finally came. He went through it all very nicely, said he wasn't a decision maker but very likely they'd be in to see me in the morning. He was fairly certain they'd be doing either a lap-chole or an ERCP followed by a lap-chole at a later date. It all made sense to me, but then I broke down, I cried and cried and cried. I wanted a proper plan, I was VERY VERY hungry. I had not eaten anything since 10am on Monday morning and it was nearly midnight on Tuesday. My night nurse was lovely she sat next to me, gave me a friendly hug and talked me through it.
Wednesday: Approx 9.30am the team arrived, a very proper looking fellow with a wedge of people (that is a Denny Crane quote from Boston Legal, I'm very important I walk with a wedge of people (or something like that) all senior doctors have a group of people following them in wedge formation and it always makes me laugh), I have no idea what this doctors name was. He was a general abdominal surgeon, he does lap-chole's, but does not do ERCPs, he'll have to call his hepato-biliary colleagues to come and see me. I said "Ok that is great but I have a question" he thought he was clever and said ohh can you eat... nope that wasn't my question.
I have three children at home, my husband works nights and has had to take the previous two days off to look after them, my family is crumbling with me being here, I need a plan and I need one quickly. If the plan is for me to stay for another week, that is ok, but I need that plan. He agreed, said he'd call him personally straight away and get it sorted. Nice enough if he actually does it. Within half an hour the EXTREMELY good looking hepato-biliary registrar was at my bedside, what a shock. He said... ERCP tomorrow, lap-chole in 6 weeks time. Signed the consent and then spent the day eating. Jocelyn came to visit that night, nice little catch up with her.
Thursday: Yep, I'm still in hospital. No work this week! Connie had the little boys stay with her last night so Jamie could go to work. And later in the day they all went up to the farm, Connie drove 4 kids to the farm in our truck. WOW. Back to me... Early breakfast and then my Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP for short) was scheduled for 2.30pm. Lots of IV antibiotics and weirdly a GTN patch, which gave me an instant headache. The nicest bunch of people ever was in that endoscopy room. A gorgeous anaesthetist and nurse, they were so funny and friendly. Met my surgeon Mr Ben Thomson (I still can't believe I didn't mention that I had a Ben, I always do that), anaesthetist said I'll put you to sleep now and a minute later I was in recovery... wow midaz is amazing. Not a single recollection. Stone had moved from my bile duct, but he still did the sphincterotomy. All was good. He came to see me on the ward around 7pm when Jamie and Mark were there. He said he could do the operation privately as soon as Tuesday, but there is no reason not to wait and have it done at the Royal Melbourne publicly. If I got pain at any time in the next six weeks, just give him a call and he'll have it done within two day! That's service.
Friday: Discharged home with no pain and a whole lot of bruises and needle marks. What a mess my arms are.
People to thank this week is Mark the Magnificent for pulling up his socks and taking charge on Monday. Jamie for being wonderful. Dad for going out of his comfort zone and helping with the kids. Connie for, well just being Connie, she's amazing.
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Thursday - crazy Thursday
I have Thursdays off. The little boys do not have daycare on Thursdays.
Thursday are full on.
We always go swimming on Thursday, the boys have lessons. Jamie stays up until after their lessons and then he goes to bed.
Today started with a bang. Crying. They both sooked, moaned, cried, whined and thoroughly drove me batty, and that was before 9am. Jamie's mother wants to borrow Mark's keyboard to play at Zahli's christening next week, so Jamie got it out this morning.
Then it was off to swimming lessons, we are less than impressed with swimming this term. Four kids to a class means you are getting no where fast. Ryan's teacher still has him using 2 kickboards and he's just not keen. Ben is bored out of his brain, he's still in the toddler/baby class and he's a bit beyond it, but he's too short (and very probably too young) to move up. I think we'll see this term out and then take them ourselves - that'll take some discipline.
Next we headed off to the zoo. I joined the zoo last year and it allows us free entry as often as we like. Currently parking at the zoo is only $2 for the day and the toll to get there isn't too much. Makes for a very economical trip. Today was going to be a short visit and if I wasn't a member, I wouldn't have gone. We only stayed a little under 2 hours. The gorillas were not out and about. We saw one tiger. The mandrills highly colourful backsides made us all laugh. Some smaller monkeys were in fine form, jumping around and well.... doing something, so we stayed for ages watching them. Ben kept turning around to me and saying "funny monkeys, did you see that?" Then we went through to the elephants, took the standard photo. Check out what difference a year makes. By the clothing I would guess it was a similar time of year, although today was the warmest May day in 10 years, quite hot really.
Next stop was the park. We went to Brimbank Park with Connie and her kids. We took the bikes. Ben can't ride his yet. But we found a playground. Now from the past couple of posts I have done, it may seem I'm favouring Ben in the photo department. This is because when Ryan is with Toby, they run off and be silly. So can't get a good pic. Benno tends to stay closer to me and by jingo he's cute.
Thursday are full on.
We always go swimming on Thursday, the boys have lessons. Jamie stays up until after their lessons and then he goes to bed.
Today started with a bang. Crying. They both sooked, moaned, cried, whined and thoroughly drove me batty, and that was before 9am. Jamie's mother wants to borrow Mark's keyboard to play at Zahli's christening next week, so Jamie got it out this morning.
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| Very serious Ryan, looks like Ben is trying to learn something off of him. |
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| Now they are just jamming. |
Then it was off to swimming lessons, we are less than impressed with swimming this term. Four kids to a class means you are getting no where fast. Ryan's teacher still has him using 2 kickboards and he's just not keen. Ben is bored out of his brain, he's still in the toddler/baby class and he's a bit beyond it, but he's too short (and very probably too young) to move up. I think we'll see this term out and then take them ourselves - that'll take some discipline.
Next we headed off to the zoo. I joined the zoo last year and it allows us free entry as often as we like. Currently parking at the zoo is only $2 for the day and the toll to get there isn't too much. Makes for a very economical trip. Today was going to be a short visit and if I wasn't a member, I wouldn't have gone. We only stayed a little under 2 hours. The gorillas were not out and about. We saw one tiger. The mandrills highly colourful backsides made us all laugh. Some smaller monkeys were in fine form, jumping around and well.... doing something, so we stayed for ages watching them. Ben kept turning around to me and saying "funny monkeys, did you see that?" Then we went through to the elephants, took the standard photo. Check out what difference a year makes. By the clothing I would guess it was a similar time of year, although today was the warmest May day in 10 years, quite hot really.
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| Today - 9th May 2013 |
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| 13 months ago - 2nd April 2013 |
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This is a bird that Ryan thought was particularly charming,
"you have to take a photo mum"
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| A little cart in the eatery part of the elephant zone of the zoo |
Next stop was the park. We went to Brimbank Park with Connie and her kids. We took the bikes. Ben can't ride his yet. But we found a playground. Now from the past couple of posts I have done, it may seem I'm favouring Ben in the photo department. This is because when Ryan is with Toby, they run off and be silly. So can't get a good pic. Benno tends to stay closer to me and by jingo he's cute.
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| Very old playground. Ben is driving the car. |
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| A confused Ryan. There was no slide to get down! Needed to go back down the ladder. |
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| A cute little wooden motorbike. Tailor made for Ben |
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