Big hair cut and walking before 1

Sunday 11th: This afternoon Ruth was enjoying the sun and Asher took the opportunity to have a cuddle.

Hannah had a very big hair cut this afternoon. This photo doesn't show the cut very well, but it does show some of the hair that was cut off. I don't know why we didn't think of cutting it shorter ages ago. Being half way down her back looks great, but is so impractical during summer when they swim almost every day at school. Every day she swims she also needs to have an Epsom salt bath to wash off and neutralize the negative effect that the chlorine has on her - so this is a much needed help.

Monday 12th: Another help to Hannah with the chlorine was to take her for EAV testing again. This will help her body to get as strong as it can be (and clear out any existing toxins) before this summer season of so much chlorine exposure. We may need to consider going again once the swimming is over for the season to really make sure her body doesn't have to keep struggling from it.
A better shot of her new hair cut. I just love her big curls.

Fun on the deck while Dad does the BBQ.
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Showing off her walking before her 1st birthday.
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Tuesday 13th: She loves music and it's so fun watching her "dance". This was taken 1

Market day and batman cake

Monday 24th: Anastasia often plays with this drum. Such a sweet little face.

RIGHT: Fun on her toes.






She enjoys playing at the window too. It's lovely having a nice low window like this, she gets to get a bit of sun and watch things outside, while keeping out of the chilly wind.



LEFT: Fun practicing her standing too. She doesn't often go in the exersaucer anymore, but it's still used a lot. She now just stands on the outside of the circle playing with all the toys. :-)



RIGHT: I have a photo of Hezekiah standing at this window looking at a cat outside - at almost the same age. :-) Just a different cat.

I had the Plunket Nurse come and visit today. Anastasia didn't put on any weight the last month, and has been gagging (and vomiting) every time I have tried to give her food. So we had a great chat about it all. She encouraged me to do "food play" where Anastasia is given all different food items that she can just play with. She will (as most kids do) put it in her mouth, but can just play with it rather than stressing about trying to eat. In this way we are hoping she will stop gagging and getting sick every time something gets to the back of her mouth. For now it just gets into the mouth for fun. If any happens to go further back she does gag, but is thankfully not getting sick.
NOTE: After a week of food play her gagging is getting less and she hasn't vomited once. She is getting good at moving the food back to the front of her mouth. The hope is that as time goes she will start swallowing some of the food by "accident" and slowly learn that it's safe to swallow.
Tuesday 25th: I went for EAV testing again this morning. Megan was able to make up a remedy to help my body in areas that are a bit low (like Iron, Iodine, Zinc, and Magnesium) and help with getting a healthier gut. I was wondering how much my body was taking strain from having to fully breastfeed for so long. So it was good to know most vitamin levels are still good. Unfortunately as I am still breastfeeding, I was not able to get a remedy for any toxins as a detox would mean all that yuck would go straight into my milk. Thankfully there aren't too many toxins to worry about and it was also good to just recheck what food I should still be avoiding. There hasn't really been any change in this area. It was good to know though.

Wednesday 26th: It was the much anticipated Market Day today and the weather was perfect. The children have been creating things to sell for a couple of months now. Hannah's class even wrote to the bank to ask for a loan to have the money to buy all the material they needed. So it was an excellent entrepreneurial study.

Hannah's group made bows.

Hezekiah's class made Tic Tac Toe boards.

It was good practice working with money and working out how much change was needed.

Lots of food fun this week for Anastasia. Enjoying a piece of bread today. Such a cutie.

On the last Book Club order I bought a book about making party balloons. I knew Ruth would love to learn and the others would enjoy getting her creations. It didn't take long for her to get creating once the book (and balloons) arrived this week.

Thursday 27th:
Rachel had made Hezekiah's cake yesterday and done the crumb coat. Today the cake got finished up. I just love how smooth the ganache coat  is for forming the base for the fondant. The buttercream icing is just the "glue" to stick the fondant on with. She is learning more every time she does cakes and knows now that this layer needs to be rather thin. If there is too much buttercream on top of the ganache, it squishes around too much when the fondant goes on.
Well done Rachel. It looks great.
Anastasia is so funny. I put the toy basket on its' side so she could explore through it. She decided to head to the corner though and look through a different bag of toys. :-)
Friday 28th: Last day of term today, so although not his birthday yet, it was the ideal day to share his cake with is friends. He will be 7 on Wednesday next week.
Rachel's first letters didn't work, so she quickly got some new ones made this morning - and the number 7 was a great addition too.

A close up with the candles.


Full school assembly at the end of the day saw Ruth getting a certificate for the Problem Challenge of 2018. She received a merit which means that she was in the top 5 students out of about 20. So she did really well.
Well done Ruth.

Asher did really well at this assembly too. Thankfully she didn't spot me when she arrived, otherwise it would have been "hi mum" until I went to sit next to her.
Not only that, but she didn't clap too much more than what was appropriate and even when she spotted Hannah and Ruth, she didn't call out to say hi to them. She just quietly spoke to Rachiel - telling her that she had seen them. So a great improvement for Asher.

As recommended by the Plunket Nurse, I took Anastasia to the doctor this afternoon. She had suggested we just make sure there is nothing structurally wrong that is causing Anastasia to gag so much. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong. The doctor also agreed with the Plunket Nurse that at this stage, her slow weight gain is not too much of a concern.
Hezekiah asked to use my phone to take a photo of his tower. So I thought I would also include his first attempt (when the camera was facing him by mistake). :-)
One of the concerns the Plunket Nurse had about Anastasia just being on breast milk still, is that she felt she won't be getting as much iron as she needs. The doctor asked what my iron levels were like. I know the EAV testing showed that it was low, but officially I don't know as I haven't had a test since the pregnancy. So he suggested we just check my iron levels. He even offered to drop the sample off at the lab in town this afternoon as it was too late to go with the courier. So kind and thoughtful.
NOTE: The results came back the next week, with my iron on the low side. So the EAV testing was again confirmed to have picked it up accurately. Hopefully the remedy will help my body to better absorb the available iron from my food (as I do eat enough red meat).

Friday is a regular squash evening for the family with Ruth, Hannah and Hezekiah all keen to get a bit of a play. Sometimes Asher stays with Rachiel or Rachel, or Brendon and I just take turns. It's been nice to watch Ruth improving. She enjoyed getting some coaching from Tjart this evening.

Ruth reading to Anastasia this evening before bed. :-)

A splinter, some testing and a migraine

Wednesday 24th: Off to the doctors this afternoon with Hezekiah. He made this potato head while we waited.
An odd reason for the visit today - a really deep splinter in his foot. It was so painful for Hezekiah. He had gotten it while playing at his friend yesterday, but only noticed when we got home and showed him the new school shoes I had bought for him. When he tried them on he said they were hurting. I checked out the shoe and then his foot, and spotted it. I think he had just been walking on his toes up till that point (being bare foot) and didn't really think about it. So I tried the baking soda paste overnight last night - but it's just too deep to budge.
He had a bath before we went, so it was nice and clean and soft. The doctor used a needle to scrape away layers of the skin above it. It was good for me to watch as I would have been very nervous about removing so much skin (and a needle is so much effective than a pin). It also helped Hezekiah that it wasn't just Mum hurting him - but it was the doctor - doing the only thing we could to get it out and stop the pain. He was so brave. Sometimes his foot would jerk and he would say "it's not me moving my foot - it's just my body". It was so cute but I fully understood what he meant. Those reflex jerks when nerves are touched. He did really well.
When enough skin was finally out the way, the doctor let me take over with the tweezers and I got it out (my eye sight just that little bit better). It was a great team effort. Once we were home I was able to get the other smaller one out from the other foot. ;-)
In the morning Hannah and I had headed off to Megan for a follow up EAV test. I knew the chlorine had been a problem for her again through December and the tests showed that I was right, there was chlorine in her system. So the drops will help clear that out as well as help her deal with all the extra chlorine she will be exposed too through the rest of the swimming season. (NOTE from 8 Feb - Hannah is doing so much better. Even within the first week on the drops I could see an improvement.)
I specifically asked to get herbs and spices checked. As I suspected, I can NOT have Coriander. I found that out the hard way in December when I made (and enjoyed) biltong (which I load up with Coriander). Cinnamon is border ling (but I'm still to scared to even try it from the terrible reactions I had when testing it on the FAILSAFE diet).
It was good to see that there are a number that I should be ok with though (I have avoided all herbs and spices since around August 2015). It seems to be more the red spices that I need to stay away from (chilli, cayenne, paprika and safron) as well as a couple of others. I was so excited about putting some nutmeg in my almond biscuits (not cinnamon - but good enough).
Right: Asher having fun this evening with the big soft beanbag. She was jumping into it and having a great time.
Thursday 26th: I got to trying out some ketocal recipes this afternoon. Ketocal is a powder that is specifically 4:1 ratio - and I have a whole book with recipes. So I did some blueberry muffins (with the vanilla one) and some cheese and bacon muffins with the unflavoured one. The dietitian had hoped that we could just try something out so that she knew if she should order both unflavoured and vanilla for us. It was tricky not having a proper scale - but worked well enough for a taster.

Friday 28th: Great to get something arrive in a nice long tube yesterday - it made a great game for them this morning. Asher does love "posting" things.

At 11 I headed up to the pool with Ruth, Hannah and Hezekiah for a pool party of Hannah's friend. It was rather cold, so they didn't spend too much time in the pool. Hezekiah hardly got in but mostly ran around enjoying the water "guns" that were there. I can't believe I didn't get any photos of Hannah or the birthday girl. I did race back home at one stage (when they were all out trying to warm up) to grab some extra towels and jerseys.

They had so much fun. A friend of Hezekiah's happened to walk past with his mother, and they came in for a bit. Hezekiah had so much fun with him.
I'm so thankful for Rachel watching Asher so that I could bring the other to the pool.

Once home and dry Hezekiah got some "school work done" so that he could earn permission to watch a movie this afternoon. His spot today - on a beanbag on the couch.

Hannah had her bath with Epsom salts and baking soda when she got home (to not only wash off the chlorine but also try neutralise some of the negative effect it has on her). She was then a great big sister and played with Asher on the deck for a while.

They had a little bit of an obstacle course around the deck today. Asher had so much fun "chasing" Hannah.

And then just 10 minutes after these photos were taking, Asher had a 1 minute Tonic Clonic. The strange thing was that she was so very tired, she slept for 2 hours. She is finally off the drug that she started in December, so I wonder if this is somehow related to her body adjusting to it getting out of her system.
Brendon then got a migraine and although he took a migraine tablet and went to bed, it didn't clear quickly. So I headed off to Bible study with the children.

We had hoped that Brendon would feel better after an hour or so, but he didn't and even had to take a 2nd tablet. So I brought the younger two home after dinner, got them into bed and then went back to fetch the older girls.
Hezekiah had a fall while we were out - and that was the only photo I got from the evening unfortunately.
Brendon had an excessively stressful week last week, so we are wondering if that was perhaps the trigger this time. He has been diligently not eating any chocolate over the last 6 weeks, so it was really disappointing to get such a bad one again. Stress is very likely the trigger this time though, as his body finally relaxed as he got home on Friday afternoon -and made it very clear - enough is enough. Now you rest.
Even though this blog ends Friday night, I may has well finish the story of Brendon's headaches. He felt better on Saturday morning, but another migraine hit in the afternoon. So he spent a number of hours sleeping it off. And then on Sunday afternoon the headache returned again. Thankfully he avoided the stronger migraine tablets this time, but it really knocked him. Poor guy. I really do pray we can find out what we can do to help him not suffer from these so regularly.
Since I started keeping records in August 2014, he has had one almost every month (every 4 to 6 weeks) since then, except for 5 months  (Nov 2015 to April 2016) while on a strict FAILSAFE diet. So although the diet did seem to be the only thing that has helped, I can't seem to pin point a specific food that we have re-introduced as being the trigger. And the FAILSAFE diet is so hard, we can't go back there. So I continue to pray and ask the Lord to help me know how to help this man, who is so precious to me. I hate to see him in pain.

School Holiday Week 2

Tuesday 4th: With Brendon on leave this week it was a good opportunity to finally get into town to buy the rest of the pavers we needed.
Ruth came with me and so we had a great time together. We stopped passed the camp on the way home to say hi to Rachel.
Ruth and I enjoyed listening to a story together as well as getting loads of time to chat.
The story that we started was one of The Cooper Kids Adventures called "Trapped at the Bottom of the Sea". We bought the whole set from Christian audio when they were on sale one month. If you haven't done so yet, check them out. They have a free audio book every month and regular specials.

I forgot my camera today, so all today's photos were taken on my phone. Not the best quality, but it's better than nothing.
When we got home Brendon quickly moved the original 8 and got them all put down nicely. It looks great.

Wednesday 5th: Another advantage of having Dad home this week was the opportunity to get Hezekiah to use his new BIG bike to ride to preschool. I had offered to carry his bag, but he wanted to keep it himself. So he did really well with that big bag on his back. Asher was pleased to get a short walk and a little play at the preschool. It was Hezekiah and Naomi's lat day today, so I took a photo of them (which I posted previously) and had a nice chat to her too. She will be missed.

Brooke came for a visit today and Ruth did her nails. I can see Ruth loving a job in a Salon. Doing massages and manicures. :-)
With it being his last day the preschool made him a birthday crown and sang for him again. The big 5 year old heading off to school next week. He was also thrilled that they made gluten free pizza today, and he brought some home to give to his sisters too.
The last of the preschool art for him. :-)

Ruth and Hannah headed up to the library. They played a bit of Wii and Ruth did an hour of community service. She needs to do 2 hours for her latest St John badge. What a lovely note he wrote for her.

Brendon and I have found a new favourite dinner. Those new burger patties I created are delicious with avocado and home made mayo. The mayo is so simple too - 1 egg, 2 egg yolks and 1 cup of coconut oil. Absolutely no need for a roll - which makes this a wonderfully healthy option too. (A nice fatty S meal in the Trim Healthy Mama way of heating.)

Thursday 6th: This was our 2nd Thursday visit actually from Dana, Annica and Catrina. Dana's husband, Frans, just recently started work on the farm that Brendon works on. So it's been lovely to get to know her and the girls. I didn't get any photos last week, so made an effort to get one today. It's lovely to remember when these friendships started.
Frans is a South African but had been living in Scotland for 14 years. Dana is Scottish, so their family feels familiar to me (with being South African with a Scottish mother myself.)

Ruth has been working on her Guide badges through the holidays. That's the one nice advantage of doing it "correspondence". She has lovely ideas of activities to do on the weekends and during holidays. I loved the "word cloud" that she created.
Friday 7th: This morning we headed to Megan to have follow ups for all of us (except Rachel who was still at camp). I was pleased to see improvement for all of us and improvement for Hannah and I on the food side of things. I knew we would all still need to stay off wheat as we all had reactions to the wheat cake on Monday. I had hoped that a "once off" would be ok, but it wasn't. At least Hezekiah could feel and therefore understand why we say he can't have gluten. We still have half his cake in the freezer to take to school on Monday, but he has already planned to just eat some of the icing.
We picked Rachel up on our way home from the CEF camp. She then had just less than 4 hours at home before heading off for the St John National Selections Camp this weekend.

We dropped Ruth and Hannah at the library on our way home and Ruth did another hour community serivce. We had planned for them to meet up with Annica and Catrina, so Hannah had a great time playing with them while Ruth got her work done. Again such a nice detailed note on what Ruth did during that time. Another future possible career for her. :-)

Once they were back from the library I could finally get this month's children's photo. I was away when the month started and forgot to ask Brendon to get a photo. Such a busy month this is.
Saturday 8th: This morning Brendon, Ruth and Hannah headed off early for a fitness session for Karate.
I decided to not bother keeping this scooter for Asher for Christmas, and got it out for her now. She keeps trying to use Hezekiah's old scooter which is now broken. She is learning how to use this one as it's a bit different to his. His had 2 wheels in the front where hers has the 2 at the back. I had to smile when she was almost finished putting her own boots on and then spotted Ruth's big purple ones. She obviously just loves Ruth's boots.


Sunday 9th: I decided to try make "healthy" marshmallow yesterday using honey instead of sugar. (The only ingredients being water, gelatin and honey.) Hezekiah was really excited about roasting them today. Unfortunately he didn't like them all that much.

The rest of us enjoyed them though and Ruth has ended up taking some to school every day too.

Ruth and I then headed down to fetch Rachel once she was back from her camp. She had a great time but is exhausted.

And just like that the holidays are over. Back to school and a very busy week starting tomorrow.