Wound, afro, gene test and party

Saturday 24th: Enjoying a cuddle with Anakin.








Such a great big brother to sit and read with Anastasia.


Although I am constantly asking Ruth to please not draw on herself, she has now taken it to a new level. This is her wound creation. I really don't like pen on their skin, but this is incredibly well done. It looks terribly painful - but is just ink.


Almost done getting all the braids undone.

Ruth's hair without any braids. She is not mad about her afro and doesn't like having it loose (that's the reason we only have a photo from behind). We do still need to get it all nicely brushed out and then will have to figure out what she is going to do with it now.

My back has been hurting a lot lately, so I was doing one of the stretches that the physio gave me (with a pillow under my back) and Asher decided it was a great time to come and have a cuddle.

Anastasia just loves all the different blankets we have for her. At first they were used for when I was breastfeeding, but now they are just for her enjoyment. She always has one in her bed and generally has one or two around in the lounge. She often carries one around in her mouth! Such a cutie.

Tickles with Ruth before she heads off on her Wellington trip tomorrow morning (Sunday to Thursday). We still need to wade through all the photos from that trip - so I'll leave them all for a separate post.

Tuesday 27th: Hezekiah had blood tests for the first time today. He has been on a gluten trial for the last 4 weeks due to increased stomach pain. Instead of just doing the blood tests that the GP had suggested, we decided to take him to Dr Ford (the expert on Gluten intolerance and Coeliac in NZ). Added to the GP's tests we also did the test for the Coeliac Gene.
We had the consultation with Dr Ford this morning and I learnt a lot more about Gluten intolerance and Coeliac. We managed to get the blood tests done at a lab in town before heading home.  The GP had suggested this as they are so experienced with children. They were really good. Hezekiah was also very brave and it went very well.

I had also had blood tests done to check for the gene and thankfully mine came back negative. So I will never get Coeliac disease. Hezekiah however is positive. Thankfully the other tests show that at this stage his body is not presenting with Coeliac disease. He is just more at risk of developing it in his lifetime. So being on a mostly wheat free diet is a good choice. Dr Ford also suggested getting the other tests done every 4 or 5 years, because even on a limited gluten diet, he could still develop Coeliac.

Asher had an appointment with her neurologist this afternoon, but thankfully he had organized to just do a phone call consultation this time. We told him we have increased her newer medication to 12ml twice a day (up from 10). He had said we could do this if we felt we wanted to. He has told me that we can safely move it up to 14ml if we feel the need at any point. I love that he is so trusting of our judgement of these medication decisions.
I told the doc that when she went up to 12ml we did see side effects. Her behaviour was really difficult for a week (at home and at school). Brendon encouraged me to just hang in there though, and by the end of the 2nd week it had all settled down. The doctor was very pleased we persevered. As he said, if the side effects are controlled, then it's worth trying. We don't know how much control this drug can give her if we don't give it a go.

Thursday 29th: Anastasia enjoying playing with some cooked carrot today. Unfortunately every time I introduce a new food to her, she seems to have a really bad night. So her stomach is just taking longer to mature and get comfortable with these new foods. I'm glad I didn't rush her food intake earlier. She clearly was just not ready for it.
Great to have Ruth back today. So many lovely memories made on her trip. Such fun stories to share.

Ruth always enjoys doing things with Anastasia. So she is very pleased that I am now giving her a bottle of milk during the day, as she can then get to feed her. I decided I needed the reduction of stress on me of breastfeeding. I was constantly worrying about my own diet and making sure that I had enough milk for her. I'm pleased I was able to provide for her for over a year (and actually much more than the others as it was breast-milk only into her 10th month)

Friday 30th: The farm's Christmas Party this evening. It is Rachel's last one with the farm as she will be finishing up on the farm in December. She has worked there for 5 years now (ever Thursday morning). She is very grateful for the opportunity, but also excited about the new adventures ahead.

Another advantage of getting Anastasia onto a bottle was that I could leave her at home and enjoy a child free evening out. I am so grateful and enjoyed the special night out.

Half way through May

Thursday 1 May: We are so very blessed to call New Zealand our home. Nothing like a drive in the countryside after some snow to remind us of how very blessed we are. This was only a minute from our home though - we live in the "countryside". :-)

We were out this morning to fetch Rachel and Ruth who attended a sleep over the night before. They had so much fun with a huge group of girls.

One of the fun things they did - a combined braid.
I have spent a lot of time out on the deck lately. Asher and Hezekiah will spend ages out here on the bikes.
And pushing prams around (well - what's left of the prams). They have wheels and make a noise when you push them. That's good enough for these two. :-)

Saturday 3rd May. I had tried to think about something Brendon and I could do for our 17th anniversary today but was honestly just not comfortable leaving Asher. It has been 2 weeks since her last seizures and she did had 3 solid months of having seizures every 2 weeks. I don't want to be parranoid but also have to be realistic about what we have gone through and what I am comfortable with. Brendon understood.

As one of us would normally take one of the children to the tea rooms over the weekend - I suggested we all go. So we got to celebrate together - as a family. I'm sure it will be remembered. The day we had muffins and ice-cream Sunday's (and a bit of sushi) for lunch. :-) We ordered a few things to share and so she put a few extra biscuits and flakes on the Sundays for us. :-)

Above - Sunday 4th May. Finally got to take the children's monthly photo. :-) I must make a note about Hezekiah's shoes. I have finally gotten out of the habit of calling them "takkies" but have to smile as Hezekiah does not quite get "sneakers" right and calls them "sneakies." It's so cute and makes me smile every time. He just loves having his sneakies on and even keeps them on for afternoon naps some days. He made sure he had kept these sneakies clean so he could wear them to church today.
I didn't take many photos through the next few days but did get a few of Asher. Here she is enjoying wearing Hezekiah's beanie. He loves this beanie but had left it lying around - so she tried it on. I was pleased with his willingness in allowing her to wear it. There he is in the background - feet in the air as they often are.
Asher loves the Wiggles now too and will often want to get the guitar and put the strap over her head. It is so much fun watching her dance to the music and every week we see her copying more and more of the actions. It's so sweet.
Pulling one of her funny faces. Ruth had decided to put an elastic alice band on her head. Brendon and I have never liked putting things on a baby's head - but it did look cute.
She does love these wooden puzzles. She has a few favourites and loves trying to put them back into their places.






Enjoying the books on her shelf too. A whole lot of them. Thankfully she is very good at helping pack up. The books are a bit tricky to put away - but she helps with all the other toys.
Friday 9th May. Hannah's teeth have been a bit of a long story. There were two molars that needed to be fixed and she had been booked in to have them done under anaesthetic because of how stressed she got when she had the last lot done. I have not been so keen on general anaesthetic for it and so we decided to see how she went with the dental nurse. It had been 10 months since she last tried and since then Hannah has gotten her first big tooth and just grown up a lot. She was actually really excited about going. The dental nurse told Hannah she just wanted to quickly fix those two teeth (as the whole had gotten bigger over the months and was now visible without the x-ray). So Hannah bravely got them done. She did cry a bit right as she finished drilling but calmed down quickly and they got the job done. I was so proud of her and SO pleased the general anaesthetic could be cancelled. We have made some big changes over the last 10 months to help with looking after her teeth and so we are hopeful she won't need to ever have such a big job done again.

Monday 12 May. The Brownies and Pippins met together today as there were Pippins who were linking to Brownies and two Brownies ready to give their promise (Ruth being one of them). Noortje was a wonderful help and took Ruth and Hannah through for me (as it was just not practical for me to go with all the children). Hannah was pleased to be able to visit and I am glad Ruth got to say her promise on a special day with everyone else. Thanks Noortje for the photos from the day.

Wednesday 14th saw a new Countdown open in Amberley - just 30 minutes from us. This is a HUGE thing for us country folk as the closest big grocery store is an hour away. It was an extra treat to see this little section in their flyer about Patoa Farm Pork (where Brendon works).
It's going to be such a change for me to be able to do grocery shopping every week. The girls have ballet in Amberley - so I will be able to pop in every week with no extra travelling. What a wonderful treat.
Today we made our first batch of healthy jam. You can find the recipe here. The one is strawberry and the other is blackberry with a bit of strawberry (as we only had 2 cups of blackberries in that packet of frozen berries).
For the first time the girls can put a nice thick layer of jam on their bread (this was actually the thick layer I put on for them to try it out). It's not only missing the negative of normal sugar but has the wonderful health benefits of chai seeds. I decided to just stop buying jam and so that has finally gotten us to make our own. We don't use sugar in the house any more (one of those changes for everyone's health and teeth) but it has still snuck in with some products like jam and chocolate spread. I have not bought another chocolate spread either but ordered Hazelnuts - so we plan to try that ourselves within the next couple of weeks.
I have been sorting through clothes over the last few weeks and today I got to sort through all of Hezekiah's stuff. He only just fits this onesie he was given. He had fun jumping around in it when he tried it on but I don't know if he will sleep with it. Perhaps if it gets really cold he might give it a try. I think the only reason he even tried it on was because we told him Logan has a onesie. :-)
Right: Nothing like having your big sister give you a ride in a box. :-)

Hezekiah's hair is getting so long that Brendon brushed it for him after his bath this evening. He was not very impressed with having his hair brushed. And you can't blame him as he hasn't ever had it brushed. :-)
One handsome little boy.

Thursday 15th. Another wet day but it didn't stop Hezekiah from heading out to have some time on his bike. With his beanie on he's fine. He was giving his little teddy a ride. This was a 2nd hand one that has been an "outside" toy for ages but has all of a sudden become a favourite for him.
Barnie is still special though and he asked if he could take Barnie out for a ride (Barnie is an "inside" toy so is normally not allowed out). So he gave his teddies a ride.
I decided to enjoy some of that jam today on a carb free scone (egg and almond flour the main ingredients) with cheese. It was delicious.

Pigs, pine cones, pony and pal

Saturday 23rd: Brendon had to work this morning but as a nice change for us Holly had asked if we wanted to come and collect some pine cones before the rainy Autumn weather makes them all wet.
Hezekiah helped a little bit and then wanted to head back to the car. He picked up a cold from another little one on Thursday night and so I don't think he is feeling all that great.
Thankfully he got over it really quickly - so I know his immune system is improving as we get more glyconutrients into him. It's so much easier with the older girls as they can just swallow tablets.
He did have a fun time being around such big pigs though and tried to get to touch them.

The Hawarden Derby was unfortunately cancelled for tomorrow as they did not have enough interest. Christine has said that she would be happy to take her to a ODE (One Day Event) outside Culverden next month though - so that helped ease the disappointment. At least all her jumping practice won't go to waste. She did a few more big jumps today and although I was taking it from the house (so it was rather far away and did not get focused properly) it was great to get this shot of her. She looks so comfortable (and what a big jump for someone who has only been riding for a year).

Sunday 24th: Hannah has always loved raw celery and now she has someone in the family to join her. :-)
I am hoping to be able to take Rachel to watch a Shakespeare play that is being put on next weekend - on her birthday. So in "preparation" we wanted to see if Asher would take a bottle of expressed milk. She managed but was not that happy about it.
Monday 25th: Chops on the BBQ yesterday and so today Hezekiah had a left over one as part of his lunch. It seems to be working well now to just give him the whole chop (rather than small pieces that he just shovels down). This boy really loves his meat.
What he also loves is this toy from the toy library. He will sit for ages pushing the cars through the "garage" and the "car wash".
And I always smile when I see that little tongue sticking out as he concentrates so hard.
Tuesday 26th: Louisa came to our place after school today so that she could go to ballet with us. Rachel decided to ride up with Auto so that they could walk back with her. The idea was to allow Louisa to get a ride on the way back but they were a little late and so gave her a ride once they had all her things at the house.

Louisa's mum had a rather busy evening and so I suggested Louisa just stay over for the night and head up to school in the morning from our place. Hannah and Hezekiah enjoy having another "big sister" to play with.

Thursday 28th: Today Hezekiah decided that he wanted to help with the vacuum cleaner. It's a bit heavy for him to do on his own but he was happy to just be able to help.
I had to smile today when I saw Hezekiah put his boots into Dad's boots.
My boy - if you walk in the footsteps of your father you will make me very proud.