Sad Times...

Our puppies haven't been doing well - we lost the first girl yesterday afternoon (the one pictured below) a boy died around 9.30 last night (only to be put with Honey in the dog room, and when I came in with the mother from toileting, I heard peeping, and he was back!), and then passed again at around midnite...then not long after T'Keyah and I went home at 1amish - the little boy (last born) died - so we're left with three girls - two really strong ones, and one wee one that isn't as strong - infact I'm surprised she survived this morning - Jessie felt like she'd retained a pup (either one that died long ago and had calcified or a recent death) so we took her to the vets last night - we gave her three doses of oxytocin (me being the lucky candidate to give her two!! - real live injections intramusculary are soooo different than practicing on oranges in your nursing degree! But I pulled it off and did it right, phew!) she never passed the pup over night, and went to the vets this morning to have an xray (which showed no pup, but possibly the calcifed type) and then a c-section to remove it - turns out she actually had an introverted uterus - so that was corrected and she has recovered pretty well.

A friend of mums had a bitch that has 6 week old pups and still in milk, so she was a surrogate for the babies while Jessie was at the vet - the wee girl was fading fast, and we gave her some puppy formula, and she's actually responded to it really well. Heaps more lively and not as dehydrated as she was - I actually have a little more hope for her now, but I guess the true test will be to see if she survives tonight. So heartbreaking.

But, check out this ratbag - Molly loves the playstation, and we have fluffy games like wallace and gromit, the simpsons and ice age - this is our playstation queen playing the simpsons (she was actually watching the bonus videos and cracking up at them!!)

The 12 Days Challenge

is D.O.N.E. - and now I feel lost!

A double for the last day - this one you had to have 12 on the page somehow, so I did 12 photos -LOL. I actually couldn't get over how much Molly was into the presents this year - she didn't go searching, but if she saw a pressie or was given one - it was all hers!! (I've positioned this side by side, will be interesting to see how they sit after I hit publish!)

I've kind of got used to doing challenges, it's great motivation, though I will never be Kelly, she is truely the challenge queen and I'm in awe of the amount of pages that girl can do in a sitting! Janine had such a great response to this challenge, Heidi, Donna, Michelle, Kelly, Beverley & Mandy have all completed the challenge, and check out their work - it's all stunning!!

T'Keyah is baking scones (she assures me she'll clean the mess up - yeah right!!) and Molly is trashing the lounge and watching Monsters Inc - I so wish she'd watch Over the Hedge or Ice Age 2 - least I haven't seen those ones thousands of times!

edited to say that they don't stay side by side :o(

We have babies...

the furry kind, and they are so cute!!

This is baby girl #3 or Honey as she's been nicknamed - why honey? Well her mother got a little over-caring with the cord and tore it close to the skin, so I had to apply pressure to stop the bleeding and we put a little honey on it (magical healing properties in honey!) hehe, unfortunately though, after all the pups were born and put back in with Jessie, she discovered this pup with honey on her tum, and licked it off causing more bleeding! But all is good now, mother and six babes sleeping peacefully - we had two boys and 4 girls! First boy was born this morning at 4.30am, and the last boy at 10.00am this morning! So yes, my eyes are about hanging out and I'm probably going to get grumpy later on, but heck, baby pups are so worth it!!

Also mangaged to do another 12 days layout - so just one to go - which will be done tomorrow - last nights isn't flash, but I was tired, had no computer and really struggled to get "into it"!! (I really hate when that happens)

Oh and my pooch has re-joined the family after his bout of what we suspect was food poisoning - cat food. Cat ate maybe 1/4 and left it (must have tasted off, cos she likes he food!), dog walks past and thinks he's in heaven - scoffs the rest - cat was sick twice and seemed ok (don't know about her other end tho') but poor dog has been pooping liquid since Christmas Eve! He came right yesterday, and I bathed him as soon as I got home, he's loving being back with the family - poor bugger!

Well, Christmas came & went...

and there were NO family fights! That has to be a first - maybe because we didn't spend much time at my mums! Every year, either my brother, or my SIL, has started an arguement with me - it's unbelievable!! One year my brother told me I was a lousy parent, and had done a shocking job of raising T'Keyah, who was two and a half at the time. She had a slight toddler meltdown, nothing major - and that's when he gave me that snippet of information - twat. Ha, he ate those words though - (he'd also told me that T'K's behaviour was because of my slack raising of her, and that his child, who at the time was 5 weeks old, would *NEVER* behave like that - really, really stupid words to utter, considering his children's behaviours are 10 times worse than my kids!). Every year since, either one of his kids has had a major fit right on meal time, and I just smile to myself. You know, for a lawyer and a doctor, they can be pretty dense!

Anyways, Christmas is done and dusted for another year - too much stress and fuss for my liking sometimes, but on a plus, my Dad and stepmother loved their frame of things from their place in Karitane (oh, and the ride out there, all alone........BLISS!). Girls both got spoiled, and had a great day. I've done another challenge, two to go, three days left - I'm sure I can pull it off.

Another challenge

I scrapped yesterday, and it felt good!!! It's been a while...I got the last CJ delivered yesterday and I did my bit in the afternoon - it's a local journal, so I'll drop it off this afternoon seeing as I'm going past her place to go out to Karitane - Dad & my stepmother have a crib/bach out there, and I'm going out to take pictures (hopefully alone!! T'K is off to her Dad's and Craig told me to drop Molly off - I seriously can't wait to be alone in MY car with the CD player - oh the choices!! HEHE) and then getting them framed - prolly about nine shots of things about the property - the fence (dad made this cool as gate!) letter box, trees etc - not snap shots, but more arty type shots - hopefully it'll look good!

So this is my page for the 10th day - Christmas day entertainment...just three more to complete!! I went out to Mum's yesterday to help her make the christmas pudding and by the time I actually got the girls organised and got out there, she'd already done it! So I got a picture of it in the pot - and I'll take one of it on the day too...oh, and while I was at Mums I listened to Jessie's (the dog) pregnant belly with my stethoscope - and while I heard lots of Jessie's grunting, moaning and panting, I did manage to hear a puppy heartbeat! Still beating away like a wee timebomb! The puppies heartbeats tend to slow a day or two before being born, so between Mum checking Jessie's temperature (which also drops) and me checking heartrates, we generally have a good idea when the pups will come! (though we have been caught out once!!) She's due pretty much anytime next week - and I have made Mum promise NO christmas names! LOL

Santa claus and ambulances

Not a common combination you say? No, but for Molly anything is possible! Sunday night she developed croup at 10pm, mild and not too concerning - she barked, and continued sleeping...until 1am, when she started to cry each time she barked - and then because she cried, she got more upset - to the point where she was struggling to get breath in - blardy scary - we were organising ourselves for a trip down to the hospital anyways (the after-hours clinic was closed) and then she started gasping and struggling, so I called an ambulance. That had to be the most scary thing, looking at her struggling and getting scared!! So the ambulance finally arrives, and she's a lot calmer, but they take her and Dad to get checked over (I stayed home, Molly is a daddy's girl and T'K was sleeping) and after a steriod I went to collect them at 4am. She wakes up next morning, like nothing had ever happened!! So we went on the kindy trip - I felt a little odd, but I figured that I was right there, and she doesn't really interact with the other kids while I'm there anyway!

We got the bus to Cadburys to see Santa's grotto and Santa - Molly was delighted, she adores the man in the red suit, cute picture and a gorgeous Santa - he was talking to Molly while another child was having their picture taken with the Christmas Fairy (the option for those not keen on the red man) and I whispered to him that she doesn't have language and that she's autistic - he looked at me with wide eyes and then said his son was exactly the same, and that he talked - he touched me on the shoulder as we were leaving and said to look after that girl, she's a precious one, and that she will talk! Very sweet man!! He was brilliant with the kids.

Not a lot of scrapping going on - must get the rest of Janines challenges done. I did my contribution for a circle journal and am just waiting on the last one (it's actually one I didn't manage to get done while Molly was in hospital, but it's local so I can drop it off before Christmas, and not worry about the postal service!)...I have one of Janines challenge pages on my table now, waiting for that bolt of inspiration!

two posts in one day

...three layouts in one day! And yep, more strip journalling - it's become quite the obsession lately, and the spooky thing is I don't even know I'm doing it half the time - it just happens and then I think - dang, strip journalling again!!

Day eight - all about what we do and who we see on the big day!

Day nine - all about Christmas cards, sending (or not! LOL) etc...And Miss Molly the little chubster! hehe she was so cute in her santa hat!

Still loving these challenges - I'm using so much Christmas stuff - and most of it I've had for ages and done nothing with!! What am I going to do when it's over??!

the eskimos play....

...walking in a winter wonderland! hehe, if that's even the words! Struggled to find my childhood photos over the weekend, so had to resort to this....no matter!! Still loving this challenge, might even be able to do a couple more this afternoon - catching up would be nice (though I do need to take one photo on the big day!)

Poor Molly had a bit of a rough start to kindy this morning - there is one teachers aide for the two special needs kids - they used to have their own teachers, but I guess they did a cost cutting venture, and unfortunately a lot of the time, Molly misses out because the other boy needs a LOT of one on one time/supervision. This morning he was in one of his moods and felt like hitting Molly (and destroying everything in his path) - they aren't really hard, but if Molly is in one of those 'sensitive' moods, well looking at her will bring on the tears!! Apparently she was a little tearful even after I left, and would be sitting doing something and then stop, think and then there'd be a few tears...poor baby girl! Though when I picked her up, she was doing puzzles and was as happy as a clam! She's now in T'K's room playing Elmo on the computer - great wee game I picked up for next to nothing and it's all about numbers and letters! She is such a visual learner. Ella (the lady that teaches Molly sign language) phoned this morning to see how we were going with the cards she dropped off last week. Because Molly is so visual, she's been 'reading', she'll point to words in books and for some words will say it (well as close to "it" as she can get) She dropped round 11 words, and I lay them out on the floor the other night and asked Molly to find me each word - no problems - she nailed it the first time. Her words this week are
Molly
Mum
Dad
dog
a
and
look
good
school
book
cat
Ella didn't seem surprised that she knew them all, and is madly preparing her some more for next Monday, plus a few extras that I can bring out each week over the holidays. I'm so proud of how clever this girl is!! With all that we struggle with, I'm really thrilled that she has this willingness to learn, and takes so much in!

Anyone know much about

Alien abduction?? I think that my eldest has been abducted and replaced with a malfunctioning clone - she's cleaning her room....and not just throwing everything into her blanket box either, serious deep down cleaning. There are outgrown clothes & rubbish bags coming out of that room!! And it's SCAREY!! Granted she is working for money....she's off shopping tomorrow with her friends from school and is trying to earn money to buy clothing and accessories for their end of year breakup/leaving dance. She just came in and said she's moving her room around - egads, that means she hasn't stuffed things under her bed either!!

Another 12 days challenge finished this morning - so I'm onto my sixth, so I'm not too behind now. Might go out to Mums either later today or tomorrow and get the Christmas pud recipe for the day 2 challenge.

Dunedin has put on another wintery day - our fire is still going! Crazy crazy weather. Though, I love scrapping on yuck days with my fire roaring - just wish I could keep the kids off the computer so I can use it more! LOL.

summer come back!!

Wednesday we basked in a glorious day...yesterday cool, overcast and then the rain came - and when I went to bed at around midnite, it was still raining - heavy, steady rain. Today like yesterday, overcast, cool - no rain, yet.

Another page done for the 12 day challenge - it's great seeing so many awesome layouts being done...I don't know about anyone else, but if it wasn't for this challenge - this stuff wouldn't be recorded - I'd do the Christmas thing, but not the depth this is going for, and I love it! Janine is awesome setting this up, and the generosity from Tamar is amazing!!

A few of you asked about the paper from the carol layout - it's by delish (www.delishdesigns.com) from the INdulge serious, seasoning appetizer...really cool paper that is done in blocks, so great for chopping up for multiple layouts or cards! It's a really gorgeous range!

another done,

only three behind (methinks!) Will go out to ma's sometime during the weekend and get the recipe for the food one - have to have to have to scrap steamed pudding - we've had money (wrapped in baking paper) poked in our pud for years! That and brandy butter (hehe, didn't have that as kids though) is just the best! mmmmm.

Did the Christmas carol one last night (and then find out TODAY that there is a kindy break up and the kids will be singing songs - hehe, not my girl though!) and have another in planning stages (ie papers cut, photos sitting waiting for the scrap fairy to come along with the inspiration LMAO!)

Managed to get one gift for Molly today - yup, that's it, really must get my skates on and get some shopping done!

woohoo

number 2 Janine challenge done! Think I need to go buy more Christmas papers though! (hehe any excuse). It's plain, simple and to the point....

Nothing else exciting going on...too tired to think!

falling behind

with Janine's challenge! After such a good start, I seem to be lagging - didn't help having shows all weekend, nor today...I'd promised myself the morning to scrap, but of course had volunteered to take Mum's car through for it's WOF - um, yeah - whole morning *poof* So I don't even feel like I've had 5 minutes to myself! My mother's hearing must be worse than I even imagined - she's worn hearing aides for years, but her car was making this hideous screeching sound because she had NO BRAKE PADS LEFT! And, she had never heard it *shakes head* Honestly, I thought that the idea of my brother and his wife & Mum living in the same blardy house would mean she'd be safe and looked out for - seems not!! Mind you, they are both so far up themselves I'm not entirely surprised, god forbid either of them would have to do anything for anyone else!! Anyway, my mother is now driving a safe car again.

Well T'Keyah is home, South Island Champs over for another year...her team came home with a silver and a bronze, not bad for 9 teams! She was home for all of thirty seconds before she started - I'm really tired of her attitude, she really doesn't get it at all...I know this is teenhood, but gravyboats, I'm sure I never raised her to be so self-centred and ignorant!!

We had the appointment with Dr Harris on Friday - she sat us down and started a brief history of Molly's health etc....we got to the nine month incident (possible stroke) and she stopped us. She asked a few questions about autistic tendencies and what did Molly do
Dr Harris - Does she flap?
Me - No
Dr H - Does she line her toys up?
Me - No
Dr H - Is she fixed on routine, has to have the same plate etc?
Me - No
Dr H - Does she stim?
Me - No
Dr H - Does she place her face close to a fence while walking past?
Me - No
Dr H - *blank expression*
Dr H - What is the basis of her diagnosis?
Me - that she has no speech & a lack of social interactions
Dr H - don't they kinda go hand in hand??
Me - (laugh) yeah, well that's what we've been saying.
Dr H - well, to be honest, I think that this girl needs an MRI to find out whether she did have a stroke, regardless!

I had told her about how the hospital laughed when we arrived and told me that babies don't have strokes - she must have thought I was really stupid - the wee girl I used to do respite care for had a stroke! She couldn't believe that we had no testing done that day. And now, I 'm back to confusion!! I have never accepted the diagnosis of autism, but I didn't really need to have all this dragged back out - now I have to phone our paediatrician and request an MRI - which I shudder to think how long we'd have to wait, and paying for one is kinda out of our reach. I just feel so sad for Molly, not that she'd ever know, but how has her life been affected due to all of this mucking around - if they'd just done some testing at 9 months, we'd know EXACTLY where we stand, but instead we've had three years of utter garbage, being fobbed off left and right!!

So we have the blood test form, and I will take her in for that - most of the other tests aren't free - the hair analysis is $100 and often comes back inconclusive, so I don't know if we'll even bother with that!

So tomorrow, I will scrap, be driven clinically insane by T'Keyah who has decided to have the whole day off, not just the morning, and phone the paediatrician....go me.

1st December!

Well, we're now on the countdown till the big day I guess! I suppose that means getting organised and thinking about gifts - I do this to myself every year, and every year I swear I'll be finished before the mad rush - hehe, maybe next year!

I've taken on Janine's challenge, the 12 days of Christmas - should be a blast! I've always wanted to have an album about Christmas, and now I will! Even better when someone gives you the challenge, I'm really enjoying doing challenges of late!

On Wednesday, Molly's kindy went for an outing to one of the local farms that is set up for school/kindy visits - I last went to this farm when T'Keyah was 5! Farmer Dave greets the group at the gate and explains to the children that they are farmers for the morning, and have to help him out by feeding the animals! So we fed the 2 goats, the turkeys (including Mr Turkey who was displaying his feathers like a true showoff!), the ducks, hens & roosters, the mini ponies, the sheep, cow & calf, two piglets and two baby lambs. We even got to see some week old turkeys - now they are really cute and incredibly soft - Molly seemed to really take a shine to them!! Snapped this one while we were having morning tea in the paddock - just wish this monster would pose once in a while!!

Right, better get organised, have an appointement with Dr Elizabeth Harris at 2pm - she's into biomedical testing - so this is our first meeting, hopefully she's got some ideas about Madam!!