Hearing... or not...

as I suffer from quite bad hearing loss, and it's hereditary, my kids have always been in the system for regular hearing tests since birth...

4 months ago, Cammy failed a test :( he had a sinus infection, so I was nice and hopeful and ever so positive that the infection, was the reason for the fail...

cue - 3 month wait... {if you fail a test, you have to wait 3mths before they test again}

2nd test, last month... and he failed :(

We saw the ENT, {Ear, Nose & Throat} specialist last week - quick I know...

Cammy has fluid behind the drum in his left ear... we have to go back in Feb for another hearing test... if the fluid is gone, but he fails, he will need a CT scan, if the fluid is still there then he will be getting grommets... so for now, we wait...

Don't forget to enter my comp, winner drawn tomorrow

How does he keep doing that...?

Cam has been getting out of the back yard heaps lately, and it confuses the heck out of me... we have a simple hook and eye latch on the outside of the gate much like this one, but heaps bigger:

I keep thinking that maybe I had accidently left it unlocked after hanging out the washing, or getting lettuce from the vegie patch... Cam would be outside playing, then next minute he would just walk right in the front door.

The other day Ian caught him unlocking the gate and leaving the back yard, so I asked him to show me how he does it:



What do I do now???

Competition

you only have 5 more days to enter my competition

an update on the kidneys...

remember this post, where I first actually mentioned anything at all about Axel having issues with his kidneys?

Well a few weeks ago, we had an ultrasound and a specialists appointment and were discharged from the Renal Pead's has the dialation has completely gone...

You cannot imagine how relieved I was/am... Of course we can't become complaicent or anything about this... if he has any urine infections in the next 12-18mths, we have to be sent immediately to have an ultrasound to make sure the dialation hasn't returned...

But for now, at least, we smile, and we celebrate

Don't forget

to enter my competition.

if you have a small baby, or are pregnant, or you are looking for something different to give as a baby shower gift, then this prize is for you...

http://leeshshighway.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-review-and-giveaway.html

Vege Garden Update - Nov

Remember our Vege Garden that we planted a month back...

well check it out now....

Guest Review and Giveaway

As you all know - I use a different solids freezing and storage system.  BUT - I won one of these a few months back, and have been trying to figure out what to do with it, so I thought, If I could get someone else to write a review for the product, I could then give the one that I won away to a lucky reader. - so here you go.. my first ever guest review:

This review is bought to you by my friend Shelley.

I first used the Qubie when I won one in a giveaway on their facebook page. Other mum’s had used them and sworn by them, but didn’t think I could justify the price tag (RRP of $25) so was over the moon to be getting a free one. First thing I noticed was that the dividers are attached to the lid and that the lid was made from a flexible material.  I continued on regardless and made a batch of pureed pears for my baby.  I poured the mix into the base as per the instructions.  There is a handy ‘MAX’ fill line which prevents overfilling and therefore having spillage when putting the lid on the base.  During this process it was when I encountered my first problem with qubies, if you didn’t have a full batch to pour into the moulds, then you end up with the same number of cubes, but the size is reduced.  While it isn’t the biggest problem, it can cause inconsistent cube sizes.

Placing the lids on it easy, place it on at one end and then run it closed around the edges to meet at the other end. And that is it done J So into the freezer were issue #2 arises. They don’t stack perfectly inside themselves, well they wouldn’t for me. As they are full and sectioned already, the worst that could happen would be a 30 ml cube being freezing skewed slightly.

Once frozen, removing them is relatively easy. I remove them from the freezer and stand on the bench for a few mins before trying to remove the lid.  The Qubie needs a gentle twist before removing lid by holding each end and twisting opposite directions.  The lid comes of easily and the cubes are ready to pop into freezer bags.  Washing up is easy as they are dishwasher safe and wouldn’t take much in a sink of soapy water either

Pros:

- Easy one pour fill
- Cubes are easy to get out
- No constant twisting and turning in order to remove the frozen cube

Cons:
- If the tray isn’t full, the cubes won’t be the full 30 mls
- Can’t make a half tray
- Stacking issue, but still remain compact

Might I also add to this that if you head on over to qubies they have a whole heap of recipes online for you to try.

How to win:

Leave a comment below stating which recipe off the qubies website, you would like to try and make in your Qubie.

Extra Entries:

If you blog about this competition I will give you an extra entry.
If you FB or twitter about this competition I will give you an extra entry.

Fine Print:

max. 3 entries per person.
please comment and let me know if you have blogged, FB'd or Twitter'd about the comp.

Competion closes 5pm NZ time Wednesday 30th November.

New Discoveries... and Mean Aunties

A few weeks ago, Axel discovered a Koosh Ball while at my mum's place



and my sister being the lovely sadistic person she is, decided to explore the Axel & Koosh Ball relationship a little more:



cruel I know - But oh so cute at the same time... BTW: there were no lasting effects, and Axel now plays with the koosh ball sometimes.

When I grow up....

This picture is Further to my Learn First Aid post...

Cammy Update

• I have just turned 3yrs old
• I love: Cars, Transformers and Toy Story toys - I also love the movies
• I'm getting heaps better at sleeping, and will now sleep through the night 95% of the time, this makes mummy and daddy very happy
• I suffer from hidious sinus infections which then distrupt all my sleeping patterns 

• I can, however, fall asleep anywhere :)
• I have a very active imagination, and often I'm not Cammy, but instead I am a great big T-Rex, or Optimus Prime, or a butterfly fairy even
• Paris helps me heaps with my imaginitive play, and Josh helps me with things like building blocks, and train tracks - I'm lucky to have a big Sister and a big Brother
• I love Axel very much, but I don't like him touching or even thinking about touching my toys. 
• but I will give him blocks every now and again if it keeps him away from my other things
• I love having baths
• I go to swimming lessons on Mondays and am really starting to enjoy them 
• Now that I am 3, I go to Kindy sessions at daycare 3 days a week, I love my friends at daycare, espeically my girlfriend Violet - she is cute x

Check out my Optimus Prime!

weighing in

It's been ages since I've mentioned anything about my exercise routines and weightloss. I may have stopped talking bout it, but I certainly haven't stopped doing everything... and I think my weigh in this week says it all

Axel Update

• I am now 7mths old.  My mum wants to know where the time has gone? She thinks it's gone far too quickly for her liking.
• I can roll, commando crawl and sit up all by myself now
• I love to play with my big brother Cammy {read: annoy him by destroying his block towers, playing with his toys, eating his jigsaw puzzles pieces etc etc}
• Paris and Josh are heaps of fun, especially when they take me to play on the trampoline - oohh how I love playing on the tramp
• I LOVE food... I eat 3 meals a day plus snacks, my favourite foods are avocado, pumpkin and zuchinni - this makes my mummy very happy
• Breastmilk is still my drink of choice {and I've only biten mummy very hard once}
• My reflux is still horrific, though I am pleased to say I lasted 10days off the meds before I became unable to sleep or eat due to pain {mummy, daddy and the doctors were happy with that effort}
• I can say 3 words: Hi, Bubba and RAH {I actually RAH at you if you RAH at me}
• After a tough couple of weeks, mummy and daddy have got me back into a good sleeping pattern at night, where I go to bed at 7.45pm, wake for a quick feed at 11pm then go back to bed till 5.30am, most days after that I go back to sleep for a little bit, but somedays I like to play :)
• I can't sleep at all if I am not wrapped in my miracle blanket. I drive mum nuts cause sometimes I can escape my miracle blanket hehe
• I am ALWAYS smiling

Cam's 3rd Birthday

So after all the posts I made about the Party Planning for Cam's birthday party, I thought I had better post some pics of his party, unfortunately, after a week of great weather in the lead up to Party Day, it did nothing but rain on the day, so the Party was completely moved inside.

Some of the guests and some of the food {yes - I burnt the sausage rolls}

my gorgeous niece Shae

Axel had a blast

Paris with my niece Daley {thats my SIL in the background behind Paris, and my brother on the other side}

Blowing out the candles

My cousins daughters eating cake

Paris and Violet {Cammy's girlfriend}

And at the end, while we were all packing up, Axel fell asleep on Nana

We  held Cammy's Party at the Epsom/Roskill Plunket Rooms

Learn First Aid

We had a very scary experience here the other day...

Axel was crawling around the floor in the lounge as babies do, being inqusitive as babies are.. I noticed it looked like he was chewing something, so I popped my finger into his mouth to do a sweep to remove whatever may have been in there, but came up with nothing...

He then started crying, and seen as it was naptime, I started to feed him... he gaged immediately... again, I swept out his mouth with my finger, found nothing, and latched him again... he gaged again, I took him off and looked in his mouth, there it was... right at the opening to his throat there was something, looked green and red, could be paper, I was just about to pop fingers in to try and get it out by pinching it between two fingers, when he swallowed...

And it got stuck..

I turned him onto his stomach and thumped his back hard. twice. nothing. lifted him up to my face, turned him back onto his stomach, thumped his back hard. twice. again. nothing... by this time he was screaming.

I picked up the phone and called 111.  Axel was still screaming, Ian was inside by this stage helping me, Axel kept trying to swallow, then he would gag, whatever was in his throat was not moving at all... he asw bright red, turning purple {a colour I never ever want to see again on one of my kids}, then we could hear the sirens, heard the ambulance backing down our drive, and Axel vomited, and drew breath in *sigh* we looked in his mouth and there at the opening of his throat was the culprit. again.

Ian managed to fish it out as the abulance officers walked through our front door. they took us out to the Ambulance and monitored Axel for 25minutes before decideding that he was good and they were happy to take him through to hospital if I wanted to, but were also happy to leave us at home if I wanted that also.

I choose to stay home and monitor him myself.  I am after all very trained in the area First Aid.  Others, however, aren't.  If you haven't taken a first aid course people. DO IT.

Our emergency could have ended so differently. but it didn't. and I won't dwell on the "what if's". I'm just thankful my wee boy is ok.

I wish to thank the 111 emergency service, the call dispatcher who kept me calm the whole time, and the 2 Ambulance Officers who were brilliant, special thanks to the one who let Cammy "drive" the ambulance {pics to come later}.

Gorgeous