So long, farewell...

... I'm heading off on holiday!
Yes that's right folks, our annual trip to Brisbane - and this time we are passing through the Hunter Valley and Canberra.

Woot!!

If I do get time to blog, I will, otherwise it will be 4 long glorious weeks without me. Don't miss me too much. :)

One sure fire way to look like an idiot.

Step 1: Notice that your son has been complaining of stomach pain for 5 days. Listen to him. Believe him. Then because it's not constant, don't pay that much attention to it.

Step 2: When he comes to greet you from a shopping trip, whimpering about stomach pain, looking pasty, be prepared for the geyser of vomit that will proceed from his mouth and nose.

Step 3: Call Health Direct and talk to them about it - the lovely nurse on the end will direct you to emergency because the vomit from previous step is a lovely shade of yellow. She suspects a blockage or something like that and will tell you that surgery may be necessary. Better to be safe than sorry right?

Step 4: Go to Emergency at the hospital and place whimpering, whingy, writhing boy on a bed and wait, while watching him clutch his stomach.

Step 5: Wait for 3 hours.

Step 6: Notice that after 3 hours, your son isn't complaining about his stomach anymore, in fact notice that he looks incredibly bright.

Step 7: Try and refrain son from climbing and jumping all over hospital bed.

Step 8: Now is the time to get him examined by a doctor, who will hear son enthuse about Leggo and Buzz Lightyear.

Step 9: Get frustrated on the inside because you just wasted 3 perfectly good hours in the hospital because said Doctor will promptly send you home again because he seems fine.

Step 10: Soak all that idiotic feeling in because it will last a while.

And I'm back in the game!

Welcome back to the world Skipper. Mostly.

Today I took EJ to MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) - which is a group designed to give Mum's some love, support and time out. For over 18 months, EJ has refused to go. He hates it there. The kids room is so echoey and loud. He has screamed his lungs out and was terrified of the place for ages, so I just didn't take him. We just didn't go anymore. I missed that adult interaction and chats with other mums, but I did all I could for my boy and didn't want him distressed anytime we drove anywhere near the venue.

Today I convinced him to go. Today he managed to go the whole session without screaming, crying and having a meltdown. He's been home for 3 hours, and there are no signs of ticks, jerks, rants, raves, or a meltdown. :)

Progress. Slowly but surely we are making progress.

Even better news? EJ said on the way out.... "Can we come back again?"


WHOOP!!!

*happy dance*

Deciding to make a difference - however small.

Last week I discovered something horrible.

The real cost of chocolate

So after doing some further research, we have decided as a family that we will no longer be consuming chocolate that is not fair-trade. It makes me sick to think of enjoying something over here in my comfortable little world, where my children run free, are eductated and fed - whilst the little children on the other side of the world are beaten, overworked and malnourished to pick the ingredients for my chocolate. Not acceptable. What if it was my child? What if it was my Mop being beaten to work harder. What if it was my EJ being starved. What if Milly never had the opportunity to go to school, but to be a slave?

Well I will not be supporting that. I will however be supporting the brands that ARE trying their utmost to be ethical. Cadbury are going to be releasing a fair-trade range in a few weeks, which I am most pleased about! Go Cadbury!!!

CADBURY IS GOING FAIR TRADE!!

I'm not on a soap box here... I'm discovering something about myself that I didn't know I had. I am filled with fire and passion for the social injustices that are being ignored by big companies. This is not acceptable to me, nor my family.

I talked to Mop about this - explaining why we won't be doing chocolate easter eggs this year - but instead a toy gift. I explained that bad grown ups are hurting little kids and they can't go to school, and they aren't eating well. The children are sad and so we don't want to enjoy something that made them sad. Mop started to cry, not because she wasn't going to get chocolate - "why are those people so mean to the kids? It's hurting my feelings (which means her heart is hurting - she's still learning to express emotion) - why don't those people have consequences for hurting the children? I don't want chocolate anymore."

So we are going to make a difference! We are 5 people - but 5 people supporting the brands that have decided to be ethical. As time goes on, I don't plan to sit here silently. I want to be a voice for those children. Just have to work out how.

Look Mum, no trainers!!

While we were away, Mop was determined to try learning to ride a bike without her training wheels. Daz took them off, and I walked along side her, with her 2 wheels as she tried to adapt to balancing. I went about 20 meters with her, and then let go. There was no going back!!! She got the hang of it so quickly and was hooning along, so proud of her new skill. We are incredibly proud of her and how quickly she grasped it.

Disaster Weekend

This weekend was the long weekend, so we went camping with friends. It was forecasted to have a few showers - so we thought it would be ok.

First of all we got there.... and the awning ripped in two. The cats had finally prodded it with their claws enough for it to be totally destroyed. So we lost a fair bit of living space. Oh well....

Then we found out that the electricity amp thing-a-me-bob that gives us lights in the caravan was completely fried. So we spent the weekend in the dark, apart from the light from the microwave.

Could anything else go wrong?? No of course not....

Saturday morning it was blowing a gale. VERY strong winds. Then came the rain. It poured, it thundered, lightning flashed. It was a very blowy blustery day. We snuck a trip down to the beach when the wind suddenly stopped blowing. We stood on the beach while the kids tried to fly their kites.... no success because it was so still... then the kids gave up and went swimming instead... in their clothes. LOL. R and I stood together, watching a big black mass move towards us, lightning zig-zagging to the ocean, thunder cracking. It absolutely bucketed down and the wind picked up again, blowing a gale.
Flood warnings were released, and we sat and waiting. It wasn't too bad overnight, but on Sunday we were this [-] close to packing up and going home. Sunday afternoon, after a trip into a nearby town we came back to a campsite that had been swamped in water. We tried our best to clean it up. All of our chairs were drenched... it was soggy everywhere. We never banked on yet another storm ripping through, blowing a gale, rain pelting, hail, thunder, lightning... it was crazy!! I watched with horror as the blocked storm water drains stopped taking the excess water and it started to rise. The road looked like a river, the campsite looked like a lake. Our friends tent was on water! It was dreadful! A mouse tried to escape the water and snuck under the tent - and ended up squashed to death instead of drowned. LOL.

The next day we were very happy to pack up and go home.

We got to experience 1/4 of the annual rainful, in less than 24 hours. Not bad.

Next time we are going to camp in the desert!!

I'm out of time out!

I'm twittering again!!

Just in case you want to read about what I had for lunch. :P