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!

Bunched up

Someone has decided she likes wearing her hairs in pigtails.

So she is sporting the world's tiniest bunches.

10 points for enthusiasm, T!

Someone turns seven

It's official: I have a seven-year-old. For weeks now, we've all been thinking about E turning seven (mainly because he's been talking so excitedly about it for months!) but today, well, here we are.


A marble cake was the birthday request, and so that was what his dad baked him. A good job he did, too. It is mighty lovely.


E went to school today with a chunk of it in his lunchbox. And a tray of Donna Hay double chocolate cupcakes to share with his class. Let's just say the oven has been running hot round these parts.

A funny thing has happened to E. Almost as if on cue, he suddenly seems more grown-up. Both yesterday and this morning, he thanked Shaun and I with such genuine gratitude for his birthday presents that he made me glow with pride. 


I guess he really is growing up.

This guy, he's so easy to love. 


I remember reading somewhere, an age ago, that seven is the age when boys begin to 'pull away' from their mum and gravitate more towards their dad. I think it was in something Steve Biddulph had written. I guess we'll see fairly soon if that's true. 




Last night, as we wished our six-year-old goodnight for the very last time, E said to Shaun: 'I wish I could stay a little kid forever.' Shaun said he wished so too. But me? I am loving watching this little guy thrive and change and grow.


Happy birthday E!

Pluses and minuses

Plus: it's the school holidays! Minus: Ewan has chicken pox! Plus: the sun is shining! Minus: we had to cancel our trip away to the snow. Plus: the place we were going to stay has given us a credit note, so we can go another time... Minus: going to be tricky to get into the office for my working week... Plus: we've been forced to stay in and slow down. Today we snipped paper (the little one) and made paper 'fortune tellers' (the big one) in the wintry sunshine all morning. And it was good.

Sparkle

Some days just sparkle, don't they? Today was one of those days. Beautiful weather always helps create a sparkly day. Add happy, well-behaved kids to the mix and I reckon you're about there! We didn't really go anywhere too far today. I was supposed to do a 5K fun run, but snot and a head cold got in the way. I didn't feel much like running... There was lovely news this week that there had been seals (!) sighted (twice) in our river. Seals! (I love seals.) And also a two-metre shark. Such good pointers to our poor, beleaguered urban river gaining a bit of its health back. After much scanning of the water we gave up on spotting seals, but we'll be keep our eyes peeled on all walks by the river from now on...!

Missing

Another long while between posts. I wish I could get to this space more often, but realistically it probably is going to continue to be neglected while work and kids and everything else keep on demanding my attention. Anyway. Flus and colds and various minor ailments aside, the usual shenanigans have been going on. Oh, and we had nits in the house. Yes, that was a delightful discovery... The heater caught fire the other night. That was good entertainment. Not. Thankfully nothing or no-one was hurt. The vacuum cleaner has also died - it's expensive enough to know better! I swear appliances go out in sympathy with each other. This week also brought about news that 1900 jobs are going to be axed at Shaun's place of work. Great. We wait... I have a ticket in next week's $30 million lottery. Because, gee, we could really use a spot of good fortune...!