Last year - July to December

OK, where was I in my dodgy 'the year in captions' recap?! ...

JULY

My biggest turned seven.

My littlest decided she needed piggytails.

AUGUST

TT takes a ferry.

Backyard soccer was played.

SEPTEMBER

Thea turned 3. Here she is doing one of her favourite things: collecting rocks.

We took the kids camping, which was all fun and games until someone - not mentioning any names - cried all night because he hated being constricted in his sleeping bag!

In the Snowy Mountains.

After Ewan's ear surgery. When we got him home Ewan had day sleeps for a few days so the pair of them slept in middle of the day. Was weirdly quiet in the house!

OCTOBER

We had to bury Ellie in the backyard after the poor old cat's kidneys packed in (she was nearly 14).

Ewan and Shaun made a hideout in the garden, which Ewan painted enthusiastically.

NOVEMBER

TT in fireman dress-up gear - on the day she actually DID alert me to a fire that had started in our garden (long story). She was my hero that day!

Took kids to a wildlife park. This guy enjoyed it; his sister was petrified by the koalas (screaming) but loved the snakes. Very, very strange!

DECEMBER

TT helps hang the Christmas decorations.

Backyard cricket in session.

Mince pies are made - one of MANY delicious batches!

Thea flies her new kite on Christmas Day.

Cousins/besties having a Christmas Day cuddle.

You know, I've only just realised something: I've been sitting here doing this for a couple of hours (exciting Saturday nights in these parts!) and I think that my doing this now is some kind of subconscious reaction to the bushfires.

I'm so heartbroken for the members of my family who have lost everything they own, but especially heartbroken for their loss of the precious, irreplacable things like photos and drawings and school reports.

So, in that sobering light, maybe keeping my blog up to date with pictures isn't such a bad idea? 

Last year - Jan to June

It's funny, I think of myself as someone who likes to record the things going on in my life, but in actual fact I didn't spend much time on this blog at all in 2012. Oops!

So here I am, mid January, deciding I'd better do a quick catch-up. 2013 has not got off to a good start, with my home town of Coonabarabran being embroiled in the most horrific bushfire disaster so let's focus on last year, shall we?!

JANUARY

We started the year in the beautiful Barrington Tops. 

These cousins/besties had the best time together at their grandparents' place.

The little girl still looked little. 

I took what must surely be my favourite photo of Shaun EVER (sorry darl)!

FEBRUARY

It was back to school. Someone wanted in on the backpack action...

MARCH

We inherited my friend's elderly pussycat Ellie when she moved overseas.

She was VERY loved by a certain little lady. RIP Ellie...

APRIL

I only took 3 photos in April - this is one of them. Usual pre-bed shenanigans!

MAY

Captured Thea's "interesting" nap style. Not convinced wearing a backpack to bed is comfy, but hey, she did sleep.

JUNE

Ninjago-building action...

Feet. Still little.

Carrying a precious egg collected at Nanny's.

Ah, no wonder the stroller is now busted...

Scribbles in the winter sunshine. 

A Great {Ocean} Weekend

Ah, it is so refreshing to go somewhere a little different once in a while, isn't it? I just had a whirlwind weekend away for work. And what an incredible weekend it was. I was given the opportunity to do part of the Great Ocean Walk. 

And can I say, if you ever get the chance ... JUMP AT IT! 

 

There was something so incredibly special about approaching the 12 Apostles on foot. It was extra rewarding.

The terrain was gorgeous,even in the bits where there were no ocean views (though we could hear the ocean from almost everywhere - adding to what was already an almost meditative experience).

We walked a couple of kilometres on sand, but that was about as hard as it got. Seriously enjoyable walking. Nothing too steep or tricky at all. 

This was one of our first sightings of the Apostles. Breathtaking. 

We encountered more sheep than people. 

Yep, that's right. Five million people a year visit the Great Ocean Road. 

Only about 10,000 people walk the Great Ocean Walk annually...

I think 'Australia's best kept secret' may be an understatement here. 
I hope I get the chance to do the full 7-day walk one day.

But until then I'll cherish the beautiful 'taster' I had of the walk. It was a mad trip - 5am start to fly to Melbourne, then a 3-hour drive to the coast and the reverse to get back to Sydney the next evening - but certainly worth it.
Definitely worth it. 

Untitled

This poor, sad neglected space. I've not been able to face writing about what's been going on - until now. Right...

So ... we discovered Ewan had a cholesteatoma in his right ear. That's medi-talk for a dangerous cyst, growing inside his head. Short version: he had an external polyp removed. Diagnosis was that there was a bigger problem. So he had a far more involved operation that meant his ear was opened up, his (unsalvageable) eardrum removed altogether, along with some hearing bones and part of the skull that the cyst had also eroded (blasted thing).

From diagnosis to two operations later took no more than 6 weeks. It is amazing - I honestly had no idea it was even possible to graft a new eardrum. It is. They took a small piece of his own muscle and grafted it in place; it will hopefully grow over beautifully and act as a new tympanic membrane.

I've found this incident quite incredible on a couple of fronts. In the days after diagnosis I felt a very overwhelming sense of gratitude - for it having been picked up at all (though I wish it had been earlier) and for living in this country, in this time with breathtakingly wonderful medical care at our disposal. Left untreated, this condition is fatal.

But the biggest sensation has been the guilt, which I suspect will be with me for some years yet. Almost all parents would do anything to protect their children. That I somehow failed my son by not picking up this medical problem earlier on is not easy to digest. We're hopeful that after his last operation (next year) he'll get 80 per cent of the hearing in that ear back.

Just moments after waking from surgery...

Other stuff has been going on too. E lost his first tooth in September. It wasn't actually ready to come up, a kid at school punched it out. They were "playing karate" .... mmm-hmm.

The cat died. Well, actually we played God in that one. It was my best friend's cat and we took her when she moved to Finland earlier this year. T looooooooved that cat so much, but the cat (who was almost 14 at the time of her departure) had some serious kidney failure happening. Kinder to put her down...

So let's have some happy photos now!

Bits and bobs from the wonderful Reverse Garbage have been turned into E's 'hideout'.

T with a 'goodbye picture' that was placed on the cat's 'grave'...

Springtime planting...

She's got wheels...

Excess mandarins turned into iceblocks, bit of a hit...

And that's it for now. Less doom and gloom next time, hopefully...

Three.

So, this delightful little lady turned THREE at the start of this month. And I must say, I will miss her 'two-ness'. She wasn't a tricky two-year-old at all. Perhaps she's saving that up for her year of being three?! (Eek.)

I wish I had the headspace or inclination to write a long, loving post about her gorgeousness. But I don't right now. Another day. Maybe?

In the meantime, let the record show that this girl, she is an absolutely, utterly, totally, 100 per cent adorable and wondrous kid.

Happy 3rd birthday T!