Cuddles, kittens, swim and sea

Tuesday 20th: Asher has been sleeping in lately (ie - only getting up closer to 8 rather than 7). She is normally lying on me from about 5, so when I got up to get her meds this morning, she happily accepted Hannah in my place so that she could lie in a bit longer. When she saw Hezekiah she called him over and told him to "lie down" too. :-) Such a nice treat for Hannah to get cuddles like this from Asher.

We finally have a nice area sorted for the kittens. At night we put boards up so that they can learn to use the little box. There have been a couple of accidents lately, so we are hoping this will help get the idea clear in their minds (clear place for sleeping, eating, and doing their business).

Always so cute to see kittens sleeping over each other.

This morning we headed down to the pool for Asher's first swim on the season. It was far too cold still for Brendon and I to venture in, but the kids had fun.

Rachel helped with Asher when she wanted to be in the big pool.

Hezekiah showing me his kicking, and Hannah playing with Asher.

Ruth helped with Asher when she wanted to walk around the small pool.

And then Hezekiah got to enjoy a ride on Rachel's back.
We were so thankful that Asher got to have time at the pool with no seizures.

In the evening I did Ruth and my nails.

I eventually remembered to take a photo of the final product on Christmas day. Ruth especially wanted to be able to have our nails the same - so that was fun.

Wednesday 21st: We headed down to the beach this morning. Quickly getting an updated beach family photo before heading down to the water.
It was a lovely day for it.

Asher just loved it.

Photos in the shallows and then they headed further in. Hannah and Hezekiah the only ones that stayed closer to shore. I foolishly didn't bring togs with, or the waterproof camera we had borrowed. At least the memories are there of the fun family time together.
Again we were all very pleased that Asher didn't have any seizures today.

Thursday 22nd: I was pleased to be able to at least get a photo with the three black and white kittens playing today as Chewbacca went to a new home. Little Miss got spayed yesterday and so spent the whole day away from the kittens. The vet felt confident the kittens were ready to be weaned (they are just short of 5 weeks).
Note: Ruth and I saw the new owner (the daughter) at the shops on Wed 28th and she said he is doing so well. He sleeps on the bed with her and is really good at using the litter box. We were thrilled to hear how happy they both are.

Padme continues to outshine her brothers with her climbing skills. She is regularly up on this level of the cat tree.
Unfortunately Asher had two seizures today. The first one a Tonic Clonic at 5:15am and lasting 7 minutes. She had a runny nose yesterday and sounded blocked up through the night, so I wasn't too surprised. It was really violent though and I really struggled to give her medication at 5 minutes. Her body was so stiff afterwards too. She was so exhausted that after waking at 8, having her medication, and then getting sick (I think because of all that mucus - we could hear it all through the seizure too), she went back to sleep and slept till 10.
Thankfully she had a good day and only had one more seizure at 6pm. It was a 4 minute vacant with her twisting her whole body around as her head pulled to the one side. We haven't seen her do this in a very long time. I was glad it wasn't so hard on her body and that it stopped before the 5 minute mark.

Friday 23rd: Brendon took the children (except Asher) to the library today and they had some fun with the Wii. They took a photo but it has since gotten lost. It was a fun joint parent-child outing.
Ruth also used the time to do a "check in" for the holiday reading program that she joined again this year. She got her folder today with the colouring in competition pages. She decided to use her new oil pastels on the "younger" bigger picture. She had watched a few videos on-line to get some ideas on how to use them and then took some photos as she worked. It was wonderful to watch it develop. I look forward to seeing the finished product. It looks amazing Ruth.
This evening we decided to all head to the farm for dinner. This week Brendon stayed with the older girls for the bible study.
Hannah and especially Hezekiah had fun playing around before (and during dinner). Asher struggled a little and kept asking to go in the car. I told her that we would go in the car after we had food. So she kept saying "food, then car" and walked from the car back to the area where food was being prepared. Once the meat was cooked she happily ate and then declared it time to go. I'm glad we all went as Hezekiah had such a great time and it was good to give Asher extra practice at being in new places.

2 beach trips and 2 seizures

Thursday 1st Jan 2015. A new year, a new month. So our monthly children's photo tradition continues into a next year. What a lovely little grin from Asher.
The children have "discovered" the sand pit again recently and Brooke came over to join them in their games today.
Friday 2nd Jan. Brendon surprised me by taking the day off (the 2nd is a public holiday in NZ).
So we decided to head down to the beach. Asher just loved the feel of the soft sand on her feet. It was so sweet to watch her.
The older children went exploring the little hill. Ruth being a great big sister and making sure that Hezekiah could manage.







Below: A good opportunity to take a family photo before heading down to the water.
Nice that Asher at least knew to look at the camera. :-)

Once Asher spotted the sea she started running. Brendon had to keep holding her back as she just wanted to go right in. It is so sweet to see her excitement and joy.
And then Asher got quiet. Up till then she had been giggling and continually walking towards the waves, so Brendon picked her up to check her. She was having a vacant seizure.
Brendon and I quickly ran up to the surf club and got her face washed off so we could see the colour around her mouth better. Thankfully it only lasted a couple of minutes and then she slept.

I am glad the other children had already had a lovely time in the water. Lovely memories made today.
I had made lunch for us all to have in the car on the way home. Asher even managed to eat a little bit before she fell asleep on the trip.

Asher just went straight into her afternoon nap when we got home. So she was up earlier than normal. Thankfully Dad was home to keep her entertained outside. She had a fun time "helping" him.
Below: Saturday 3rd and I was pleased to get Hezekiah's hair cut today. I only thought to take a photo later (it looks really nice when it was wet after his bath). This time it was short back and side (like Dad) and then I used the scissors on the top so that it was not too short.

It was nice to see how pretty the girls hair looked in the evening - ready to go to church. So nice how they help each other too. Now to just work out how to help them learn to balance "dressing nicely" for church and not being vain.
Sunday 4th. I had seen that there was a sand castle competition at the beach on Sunday morning - so we headed back to the beach.

This time Brendon went right in with them. First Asher got her wish - going all the way in. :-)

Then Hannah asked to go in too. She got really scared as she thought the waves would make her go under (so she shed a few tears). She would do it again though - so the fun of it did triumph. Rachel and Ruth helped with Asher so I could take a few photos.

Hezekiah was braver than Hannah and although he said afterwards he was a bit scared with the really big waves - there were only smiles from him.

Ruth walked in as far as she could and then Brendon picked her up when they were deeper than what she could stand. She loves water - so she had a great time.

Rachel had tried to go in with Brendon and Ruth, but felt a little bit nervous. So she waited her turn and then headed in with Dad. He even managed to get her to try out body surfing.

She had a great time.
Unfortunately the excitement of the day seemed to get to Asher again. When I took Asher from Ruth (after getting all my photos) she was not herself. At the time we were not sure if it was a seizure, but looking back we think it must have been a mild one. She just wanted to cuddle in my arms and have me hum her sleeping song to her. She didn't actually sleep but it took her a while to get back to being her happy, smiling self.

We stopped at a local shop to get some hot chips. The kids have always longed to stop and play on this "castle" - so it was another special day with special memories. Even though the outing was cut short (because of the seizure) and they didn't get to see the sandcastles (as we had arrived too early), it was still a fun filled morning.
We ate hot chips on the way home and were pleased to see Asher feeling better and enjoying the chips too.