Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

You guessed it....I have been so busy. Of course with baby Isabella came lots of baby sitting for me. Looking after three boys, 7, 5 and 2 for three days was quite exhausting to say the least. A lot of fun too though. But with driving to school and kinder and visiting at the hospital it kept me on my toes.
Harrison didn't want to meet his new baby sister and created havoc in the hospital. He is so strong at 2yrs old and we decided he wasn't visiting there again. When baby did come home he wouldn't have a bar of her.....he's much better now though.

So, for the next three weeks until school finishes for the Christmas holidays I will be taking Joshie to school each morning and Riley to kinder when he has morning sessions. Carolina is a bit overwhelmed with trying to get them all ready on time.

After I got home again from my house sitting and baby sitting stint I slept for two afternoons and then got really sick. My voice went, my throat went, my stomach went and I just had to nurse myself for about a week. I'm heaps better now, and have missed going to the Gym. I havn't been for two weeks now!!! I can't share my energy around to too many places at once so I had to be content to just take it easy.

Today Martin, Tambi and the kids came for lunch after Church and we put up our Christmas tree. It's so much more fun when there are children helping and getting in to the spirit of the festive season.
I have taken photos but havn't uploaded them yet....I will get to doing that.

One thing I have been really enjoying is making Christmas cards. I started off using the Basic Grey Wassail Card pack. You make eight cards from the pack and they are really basic so it only took me 1hr to make them all.
Then I made a Christmas Card list and worked out roughly how many I need to make in total. About 50 I figured so I have so far made 8 each of several different designs. Currently the last ones are waiting for one more addition and I'm finished.
I have stolen/copied/cardlifted one design from the Wassail range but the rest are bits and pieces of ideas from everywhere.
When they are finished I will take photos. One of the good things was that i used up some really ancient Christmas paper I had kept and hardly touched my new ones. Except for Figgy Pudding. I must have bought a pack last year when Basic Grey released it for Christmas...but never used it. Mainly because I havn't scrapbooked any Christmas photos for a long, long time.
And.....I just love Figgy Pudding....I think it's the nicest Christmas range Basic Grey have put out.
So...with Christmas nearly upon us I am so reminded of where I was this time last year. About to hear that my cancer was Stage 3 and a couple of days off starting my first Chemo. I remember how rotten I felt throughout the summer and the warmer weather and my clothes are a constant reminder. In fact I have at least one t-shirt I just can't wear because of it's association with my cancer.
I know in the US they have just had Thanksgiving and that is something I wish we had here. A time where we focus entirely on what we are grateful and thankful for.
I have so much.......that mere words are not sufficient to express how I feel. I am so thankful to be here for this Christmas to share this with my family, to have more time for my family, to be there for them as they were for me. I have amazing friends. Some whom I have only known for a short while, others whom I've known for many, many years. Each one of them is precious and from each one of them I learn and grow.
Last year was a horrible year, the start of this year wasn't much better....but as the year has progressed and we are in the last calendar month I understand and see where I was and where I am now....and I feel content, and I feel happy, and I feel so very, very blessed. And, yes I AM THANKFUL.

And the baby is.....................

A LITTLE GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ISABELLA BEATRIZ (middle name after Carolina's Mum who passed away almost exactly 4yrs ago)

How exciting for Dan and Carolina after having 3 boys to finally have a placid and calm little girl. She's placid and calm at the moment.
Isabella was born at 4:25am this morning.....and I havn't had much sleep so that's what I am going to do right now before going to the hospital to introduce myself to my new grandaughter!

ciao

AWOL

What a week it's been!!!! Actually going back to two weekends ago (whilst I'm trying to remember what I've been up to!). Colin and I went to see Nights in Rodanthe. I've read the book of it some time ago and really enjoyed it so we went to see the movie. It's so lovely and romantic and emotional. Boy was it emotional!!!!! In fact one of the characters who is really only referred to throughout the movie had the same experience I did in having an allergic reaction to an anaesthetic drug...she died however. But it just really had a big impact on me and afterwards in the carpark I just broke down and had this massive sobbing session, whilst trying to laugh at myself at the same time. Very exhausting!!!!
On Sunday last weekend 6 of our grandchildren were participating in a childrens program at Church so we went to Cranbourne Chapel for Sacrament Meeting. It is so beautiful hearing the children speak their parts and sing the songs. India loves being on show, McKenzie decided not to participate at all. Isaac looked like he'd rather have been surfing or something, Blakey sang his heart out and really got in to it, Monty sang a bit but yawned a lot more and Orson......was to shy and just dropped to the floor. Such fun!!
I've bumped in to a few 'old friends' this past week, friends I knew from my Scraptacular days. Glenda and Nicole it was so lovely to see you and have a chat for a while.
I've been really busy, trying to get organised for Christmas. I've so far made 24 Christmas Cards. I bought the Wassail (Basic Grey) Christmas Card Kit and enjoyed kicking off with making them. Then I made 8 each of two different designs using up all my really old Christmas paper scraps. They all look the same but different because I've used different papers and different card colours. Will post some photos later.
Then of course we had the horrible house fire across the road. Workmen have been taking all the tiles off the roof and you can see how black it all is inside the roof throughout the house. It's a lot of damage.
And...the morning this all happened I saw and fed our two kittens Bizkit and Balou. However as the day progressed only Balou showed up now and then. By evening and especially the next morning we couldn't find Bizkit anywhere. We went looking all over the place and I was getting really worried because the weather was hot, and hot again on Thursday, then storms and rain on Friday and still no Bizkit. We really thought we would never see her again which was really sad because we are really attached to both of our kittens.
I printed off some flyers with her picture on it and put them in letterboxes in our street.
Come Sunday morning about 6am we hear this constant wailing meowing at the front door and
there is Bizkit. She rushed inside with heaps of loud meowing...we fed her and she wanted to eat but at the same time she was so excited to be home that she wanted to purr, meow and eat at the same time.
She didn't show any signs of trauma, or looked bedraggled from the weather at all. We think someone may have seen her and decided she would make a nice pet....then got our flyer and let her go.
Whatever....she found her way back home and is happy and content. The funny thing is that Balou was quite happy that she was gone! She was way more affectionate and loving...and now that Bizkit is back she seems very put out. Typical girl!!!

Still no new baby grandchild. This is the first time that Carolina has gone past 38 weeks. She has an appointment on Thursday and if she makes it to that they will make another one for the following week and possibly induce her that day.....if she makes it to then.
I've been ready for so long I've kind of forgotten about being ready...if that makes sense!!!!
We went to Lazy Moe's for dinner on Saturday with a large group of friends. I didn't like it much at all. The meals were obscenely huge and not great quality. Fun to socialise with friends though.

Have a very few busy weeks coming up. Babysitting and activities...some more work to do for a friend. I've just completed my second lot of 'creations' for her and she loves them....it's nice to dabble in my favourite hobby and earn a dollar or two.

Little Sahn has now officially been diagnosed as Autistic. She is now under a paediatrician in Frankston who has a downs syndrome child of his own, so he knows the difficulties and the best sources of help.
Sahnie is being referred to a speech therapist and a physiotherapist and again on the waiting list for other intervention programs.
She is such a beautiful, loving and gentle girl. Except when she gets frustrated because she can't communicate. There are things we know for sure though....she hates loud noises, she hates birthday cakes and singing happy birthday, she hates shopping.......she tucks herself in to bed if it all gets to be too much. And...we all love her to pieces. She is so adored by our entire family and although she will only be really comfortable to spend time with some of us, she at least gets forced to socialise a bit when we all get together.

This week.....another busy week. Grandparents day at Rileys kinder and babysitting ...surprise!!!

FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We all got woken up early this morning with what sounded like a door banging followed by some booms!! Colin went outside and our neightbours across the streets house was on FIRE!!! The whole garage was up in flames....the flames were huge and kept bursting through the garage door as well. It took a good 15mts for the fire brigade to arrive. Eventually they cut through the garage door and got to finally put it all out. We thought it was just the garage but talking to the owners this morning no-one was allowed back in the house because the fire had gotten into the heating ducts.....which were then weighed down and the ceiling was collapsing inside. there's heaps of water damage as well. Poor family....everyone got out safely which is the most important.
Our whole neighbourhood was out making arrangements for the kids, clothes for all the family etc.
What a night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brothers

Here is Harrison - behind bars. He sure looks cute - our little mister dynamite. Such a typical 2yr old, very active boy. We are all wondering how he is going to cope with a new baby in the house. He is sensing that something is changing and he is just a bit unsure right now. Well, baby is going to come any day and I'm sure he will love 'it' - eventually.

I have been spending a lot of time with Joshua, Riley and Harrison lately and have been having a lot of fun with them.
Joshua is so proud of his Ben10 watch - it does have a more 'technical' name but I don't remember what it is.
Riley just wanted to make cupcakes with Nanna and he did a great job....very messy but that's half the fun.

Harrison kept trying to grab one.......Riley was very protective of his cupcakes and had to take them home!!!

Catching Up.....Easter 07

Going back to Easter 2007. I have had these photos printed off before i got sick and therefore they have been sitting there patiently waiting for way over 12months. Finally about 3 months ago decided to work out how I wanted to scrapbook them, choose some papers (which incidentally I changed once i started on the project), and then it all sat there untill last week when I finally got to do something with it all.
This is Harrisons first Easter, the day orson learned to ride a 2 wheeler (with training wheels!) with cousin Isaac riding close by to help him learn the ropes, McKenzie looking like Miss Independent (and 18months later she has certainly grown in to that title), Sahnie is crawling around everywhere closely followed by cousin India.

Cousins all eagerly awaiting the call to come and hunt for some Easter Eggs. Me desperately trying to get them all together for a 'group cousins photo'. They are not as co-operative as they used to be!!!

All in all a fantastic day! And I just realised there is one page missing. Never mind.....the general feel of Easter 07 is there!!!

Anniversary

It's anniversary time!!!
Firstly, it was my wedding Anniversay on Friday. 38yrs!!! Yikes!!!! We actually had a lovely relaxed day together. Colin and I went and did a bit of shopping and then went out in the evening. It was really casual but just nice enough.

Today (Sunday) is my first anniversary. It's been exactly one year today that my life was saved!! One year today that I went to hospital for a simple lymphnode biopsy and ended up with all sorts of dramas. One year today that I was given a clean canvas, to have the opportunity and blessing of making big, big changes in my life. To plan a more balanced life.

And...I have looked back with much reflection over the past 12 months and changes I have made and where I am now in comparison to twelve months ago.
It's been the hardest twelve months I have ever lived and yet so much good has come from it all. And decisions and changes that I have made have worked. I am in a good place. I am reasonably healthy...(I certainly don't complain about every sniffle and headache), I have an amazing family and wonderful friends. I still enjoy my scrapbooking hobbie but am not 'obsessed' like I used to be. I am able to 'be in the moment' and appreciate it much more. My faith has increased a hundred fold and 'life is good'.

I also had my first haircut. A proper haircut. My hair actually has a bit of style. It's still pretty short but I can actually do a little bit with it now.

The past week has been full of babysitting. One day after another, and another. All different grandchildren...but it has worn me out just a bit. Had a 'big' sleep today....actually for about four hours.

Alison, thank you for your comment on my last post. I did go to the site that you suggested!!! What a gorgeous baby album Pip is making. Takes commitment to do that everyday! But, I like the idea of doing it about myself and my family. So, might have to look up where she got the book from.
I was naughty...I ordered one of her paper packs!!!!

Well, we have hardly eaten today and Colin is starving which means I need to get off the computer and into the kitchen.

Thanks for stopping by