Seizure, sushi, shiny medals and smiles

Saturday 1st August. This afternoon Ruth and I headed off for ice cream Sunday's at the tearooms.
When we got home I remembered to get the new month's children photo.
Hannah didn't look very impressed with the funny faces I was making for Asher and Hezekiah. :-) Well - at least they enjoyed it.

Rachel was busy in the afternoon getting sushi made. Ruth and Rachel are heading off to St John competitions early in the morning - and so this is their lunch.
At 7pm Asher had a 9 minute seizure. It started off as vacant (for 6 minutes) with her still moving around quite a bit. We managed to get her medication in just as to moved into a Tonic Clonic seizure with her pulling to the right. Her lips and even hands went purple and so we were very thankful when it stopped and she got her nice pink colour back. Her purple hands had even gotten us to call our neighbours who have oxygen, but they were not home. So we were very relieved when it stopped.
Sunday 2nd: It was a very early morning for the girls (and Brendon who took them into Amberley). They left home before 6am. The photo is taken in Amberley at 6:30 - just before they headed off to town for the day.
I remembered to take a photo of some of Asher's visual cards today. I have a few little helpers in the house who regularly get cards for what she is doing. It's so sweet to see Hezekiah get her box (with the green board on) and put on the picture for her snack (in photo) or breakfast. When she is finished she will take the picture off and put it in the box (it's a tissue box which makes a nice little post box for her cards).
Asher was so funny this afternoon with her grapes. She took every single one, bit it in half, and placed it "cut side down". Perhaps she didn't want them rolling around the plate. ;-)
The girls did really well at competitions today.
Ruth's Junior team came 1st in Communication and 3rd in Drill. A great day for her being her first competition.
Rachel's Intermediate team did very well.
1st place for Drill
2nd place for Written
3rd place for Communication
1st place for Clinical One
2nd place for Rachel's Pair test
1st place for Rachel's individual test
And so they ended up being 1st place Intermediate Overall.

So they got both the Team Intermediate trophies that were available and a whole lot of medals to go with it. This also means they qualify for Regional Competitions in September. Well done!
Monday 3rd: I found this photo on my camera from today. Ruth enjoys decorating her food.
On Tuesday we went back to the doctors room for Ruth to get some more blood tests done. The nurse struggled to get a vein though, and poor Ruth was in tears from the pain. She sat there so quietly but the tears rolled down her cheeks. The nurse even said that her crying was making her cry. And it was having the same effect on me. So the nurse asked that we come back on Wednesday morning, when the doctor was there so that he could rather do it.
Well, when we arrived on Wednesday morning, the doctor had gone off to an emergency. The receptionist had given us a great tip on Tuesday when we left though - and suggested we put a warm bean bag on Ruth's arm on our way in. Another friend also suggested warmth - even having Ruth run around a bit before. So when we arrived, Ruth and Hezekiah went for a run around before we headed in.
The nurse suggested she try again, and it went very well. Other than the first little prick, Ruth said it was not painful. Even when the vials were changed (a time I often feel a bit of pain). So the nurse is really very good and it was just a pity it was so hard yesterday. Ruth was very brave and the blood flowed nicely. Thankfully, because today there were 3 vials to fill.
I wasn't even aware of Ruth taking this photo. Asher does enjoy using me to climb. :-)
And Ruth's domino creation that she took a photo of.

Friday 7th: Asher just loved playing with the seeds this morning. She would regularly clap her hands to get the seeds to fall off though - so there were seeds everywhere.
She enjoyed it so much that the teacher brought out some beans for her to play with too. She sat for quite a while playing with them, picking up with the small cup and pouring into the big one.
Here you can see her board that she has here. It shows her what activities she will be doing. When she is done she "posts" the card into her "finished" box.

She had a lot of fun with the physiotherapist today on a ball.
Rachel was a great help with getting the girls packed for camp. They left this afternoon for a weekend Brownie camp. Hannah's first camp - so she is very excited and has been counting down the days. A cold weekend (with snow) is expected.

Bird, blood, broth and bubbles

Monday 27th: I got a very excited call that a bird had landed on Hannah's arm. So I quickly got out with a camera.
The bird was injured and didn't last very long. They enjoyed giving it a bit of love though.

On Friday I took Ruth to the doctor as she had a swollen toe when she got back from her holiday. She last had a swollen finger in July 2009 - so it's been a good 6 years since we last had this. Time to get some blood work done though and just check on a few things. So on Tuesday morning we did a fasting blood test and checked a few things. Although the one vein looked really good, as soon as the first vial was filled, the blood just stopped flowing. It took 3 more pricks to get the 2nd one filled. Ruth was so good and patient.
Ruth, Hezekiah and Hannah enjoyed playing with the left over icing.
Hezekiah created a nice colour with the black and blue.

So much fun.

The volcano that got created.

And our family fun was watching the recorded episode of Master Chief New Zealand from Sunday night. All we knew was that Leo (who works on the farm where Brendon works) made it into the top 16. It was so exciting for everyone to see him - and then even more exciting when they spoke about his job on the pig farm and had this shot of him with some sows and piglets. I can see this becoming our weekly tradition. The kids have always enjoyed watching Master Chief - but it is even more enjoyable when there is someone on that you know. :-)

Tuesday 28th. A friend tries to come around for an hour, 3 times a week. She spends some time reading with Hannah and then watches Asher for me so that I can get some jobs done around the house. It has been such a blessing for me to get that little chunk of time in the day to get a few things done.

After lunch I spotted Ruth giving Hannah and Hezekiah a few "drill" lessons.
It's a bit tricky teaching Hezekiah "left, left, left, right, left," when he doesn't know his left and right yet. :-)
Wednesday 29th: Look at that monkey, Hezekiah, and how he decided to look at the book Hannah was reading.
Too much "cheese" from me on this one.
It is always so nice to see Hezekiah and Hannah enjoying a game together. Dad made the photo even more memorable by "photo bombing" it. :-)
We had to laugh at Puss this week. I have been reading a book "Cure Tooth Decay" about Healing and preventing tooth decay with nutrition.  It reminded me of how good bone broth is - and so I have had some going. The smell is obviously so tempting for Puss - she just sits under the slow cooker - perhaps longing for a taste.

Thursday 30th - Asher enjoying a bit of iPad time - chilling with Dad. Such a cutie. I just loved the way she was sitting with her leg up.

Friday 31st: Asher using her visual cards at Champion Centre. The bubbles worked really well as she was encouraged to say "more" and then "bubbles" or at least point to the bubble picture, every time she wanted the teacher to blow again. It's a lovely repetitive game and Asher was more than happy to ask for "more" every time. :-)
The hope is that she will learn to combine two words. For now she can use the sign for more or the picture for bubbles and at least join two words in a different way (even if not saying two words). Sometimes she did her sign for "more" and then tried to say "bubbles" which was lovely to hear. She obviously had loads of motivation to learn that word. ;-)
Ruth had the job today of putting velcro onto the back of Asher's set of pictures that she uses at home. Great job Ruth.

Hair and toes

This morning I got the last of the braids tightened before going to Music and Movement. Ruth was so pleased to be wearing another of her "new" skirts.

And this is one of her favourite ways to wear her hair. With butterfly clips. I need to find some more though because typical of Belinda I want the clips to match each other and what she is wearing. :-)

This afternoon Brendon had a follow up appointment with the homeopath. Although he did have a headache once this last month it was not a bad one and there have also been other improvements in things that he considered just "part of life" - like the heartburn he would get whenever he had to do a lot of bending over at work. They discussed it all and she has decided to repeat the same remedy - so hopefully as the months go things just continue to improve.

I had asked Brendon to get some Chinese food on his way home but unfortunately it took longer than expected and Hannah was hungry. I offered them left over butternut (I had roasted a HUGE one with a pork roast earlier this week) and they were both happy to have that with a little cinnamon sugar sprinkled over. Hannah is on her second bowl in this photo and did have a good meal of Chinese when they got home too. So we will have to see how things go with her eating over the next week or so.

Brendon had also taken Ruth for a follow up appointment as her motion sickness seems to have come back as well as getting sore legs and feet every now and again. Brendon mentioned that she has also had what seems to be Athletes foot recently with very itchy toes. When they took her socks and shoes off though - they discovered swollen toes. It's been 2 years since Ruth last had swollen fingers and it was a bit of a shock for me to see that it had come back. The 2nd toe on each foot and the little toe on the other are all quite swollen and red. I can only think this last week's cold weather triggered it again. I pray that the Lord would guide the homeopath as she thinks through a remedy for Ruth (it may just be a repeat of the previous one that is needed) and that they do clear up soon.

Lots of pink

Ruth had decided last night already that she wanted two pony tails this morning.
You look so pretty Ruth.
I had planned to take Ruth for her check up at the hospital this morning but as I was sick as well as the lady who was going to watch the other girls, Brendon said that he would take the day off and take her in. So Ruth enjoyed the extra time with Dad.
The doctor noticed that Ruth was dressed in pink and said that all the girls he had seen today were wearing pink. Ruth then said "I don't know if my panties are pink". Sweet thing.
One of the items they bought on their way home was a pink wig for Rachel. They have a Pink Star Challenge going at Brownies which is for Breast Cancer Awareness and so this term they have to wear pink accessories. Hopefully Rachel will be brave enough to wear her pink wig. The Brownie leader has a big curly pig wig - so that was her motivation for getting a wig herself. Ruth decided she would like to try it on though.
This afternoon I took Rachel to an extra ballet lesson. Her teacher has suggested that I bring her to this group on a Monday afternoon so that she can get some extra work to do. It is a way to travel (40 min and almost 50km) but I feel I can't give up the opportunity for free extra lessons. I was glad I could leave the little ones at home with Brendon today as it allowed me to get some videos. Rachel did so very well. She only just did her grade 2 exam and these girls are now starting on grade 4 work. So it really is a jump up but she coped amazingly well. And she had a great time. She got a little frustrated with herself near the end of the lesson when she could not get a dance right. It was a good opportunity to talk through it all on the way home. Up until now she has always been able to pick up the new things immediately. So it's nice for her to finally have some ballet work that actually needs work - that she can't just "get" straight away. Already I can see that these extra lessons will teach her so much. And not just about ballet. (In the video Rachel is on the left)

Orana Park again

Ruth had a follow up appointment at the hospital this morning to check that there was no more swelling in her hands. She also had an appointment at the eye clinic to make sure that the inflammation that was in her body for those months in winter had not effected her eyes. It is good to know that her eyes are healthy and we will probably just have a follow up appointment with both in a years time.

Brendon took the day off and we all came into town together. After the hospital we had lunch, did a little bit of shopping and then headed over to Orana Wildlife Park. Ruth has been asking to go for a number of weeks now.

As soon as we arrived Hannah headed over to the ducks. She so wanted to touch them.
And we got to see the gibbon who had only just been born at our last visit. That's the baby out to the right of the Mother.
A highlight for the girls was a ride on the shuttle. They have installed seat belts since the last time we were here and it was nice for Ruth to be allowed to sit on the side.
We had a really lovely drive around. The male ostrich was running around giving us a lovely show. There were also a few big ostrich eggs around - so it was great for Ruth to see those too. As we drove past the cheetah enclosure a couple of them got up and ran along with us as we drove past. It was also lovely to see the black swans again with one of them sitting on their huge nest. Ruth has been learning so much about birds and eggs and nests so it was really special for her.
Hannah just loved being on the shuttle. And as the shuttle is pulled by a tractor she just kept saying tractor with such delight.

Then we hopped off to see the new lion cubs. Well, the pram was brought with for the two of them - it just served as entertainment for the first while.

At least we got to see one of the lion cubs. Rachel really enjoyed seeing a male lion that was indoors for some reason. To look at him so close, just through a window, made us realize how huge they are.

The girls enjoyed the farm yard area. Especially this area that you could come into and have close up contact.

Hannah so loved wiping this lamb. We had to keep telling her to walk slowly so that it did not feel chased. She quickly realized that if she came up slowly the lamb would stand still for her to get a wipe.

Independent Hannah climbing over the stile on her own. Dad just helping by getting the dress out the way as well as giving her a hand to hold onto on the way down.

Before we left the girls wanted a go on the flying fox.

And Hannah got to see the elephant - she was sleeping when we were here last time.

The trips home are always hard for us with a tired Hannah who will not sleep. But other than that we had a lovely day. One of those days that childhood memories are made of. :D