30 April 2015

What's your coping tool?

Do you have a coping tool? I would say mine is wine, but as it's only 4pm its probably a little early to be pouring myself a glass of red, so instead I'm making myself a coffee. If you are on the other side of the world and its wine-o-clock, please have one for me!


I didn't want a little cough to lead into something worse, then the whole house come down with it.

I've had one of those days that only a Mother or Father can truly understand. What started out with Popette having a cough one night has then turned into her coughing most of last night. She then woke up coughing this morning, and had a low-grade temperature so I made an executive decision to keep her home and take her to the doctors.

There is a terrible bout of whooping cough going around, although the girls are immunized against it, the idea of them getting it scares me. I had been sick over the school holidays and still trying to shake a cough which I've had for a couple weeks. The doctor I saw insisted that I had whooping cough. My husband and I are thinking she's diagnosing everyone with a cough as having it. As I was sure it was just allergies which caused my nose to run down the back of my throat, giving me a horrid chest infection. Anyway I took the antibiotics, just in case and went for a blood test.

So here we are waiting to see if I have whooping cough. The doctor has told me that she'll call me if its positive, but I still haven't heard, and now stressing that I might have it and given it to the girls. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed I don't and that I haven't passed it on to my girls or anybody else for that matter.

Now back to today's antics...while we waited for the doctor I noticed Cherub had a red rash covering one side of her face and inside of her left ear. I thought it might have been from her rubbing against something or because she was a little hot. It didn't go down, so I had him look at Cherub too..now she is on antibiotics for a suspected skin infection! Popette is thought to have a minor throat infection causing her to cough, but is also being checked for whooping cough, which means she's off school for another day (grrrr!) while we wait and here the results of her swab test!

Blimey, I could really do with a glass of wine...and the funny thing is that by the time I hit publish on this post it will probably be wine-o-clock here...I think I better get Hubby to grab a bottle with the chinese food we are having for dinner!

So how's your day going?

20 April 2015

Saying goodbye to our boy

School holidays has been a mixture of happiness and sadness for my family.

After spending a wonderful week away at the beach and coming home all relaxed, these last few days have been tinged with sadness with the passing of our beloved Golden Retriever "Orson", affectionately known as "The Boy" on Saturday afternoon. 

Over the past few months my husband and I watched our gorgeous boy's health dramatically decline. For the past year he had been treated for arthritis in his back legs with steroid injections and medication, but sadly the last lot of medication stopped working and his legs gave way last Friday. 

My boy and I before Easter

We tried to keep Saturday as normal as possible with plans to take the girls to swimming lessons, then to a birthday party afterwards. My husband and I shared duties so we could both spend time at home with the boy before taking him to the vet later in the afternoon.

In the morning we told the girls that our boy was really sick and couldn't walk anymore, and got them to spend time with Orson. They made him a drawing and picked him flowers from our garden. Popette even wrote a letter, which choked me up.

They adored him, as much as he loved them. He loved watching them play in the backyard as he sat on the deck, or he would sit next to them as they played in the sandpit, or jumped on the trampoline.

When Cherub was younger, she used to think he was her pony, and would try sitting on the back of him.


Our beautiful boy "Orson", 14 years & 10 months of age

Our boy had such a beautiful temperament and personality. He was the best dog you could ever hope for. He never once growled or snapped at us. He was more than a pet to us, he was an important member of our family. Its hard to believe he is gone.

The girls with the boy // the girls made drawings and wrote a letter // picked flowers for him

He had such a fun sense of humor. When he was a pup he thought he was human and would often sit at the table with us outside when having a BBQ. He didn't sit long enough to eat his sausage though!

He also thought he was a bit of a "SUPER DOG". One of the first few days at our house he came bolting out to the deck and went for a flying leap off the 2 meter edge with all legs stretched out then landing with a thump! He got up, shaked himself off, then went running around the backyard like a crazed lunatic.
He was such a goofy pup, so full of energy.

The boy didn't believe in retrieving balls, if we threw him one he'd look at us as if to say "You want me to get that, you're joking right?" He would rather chase the birds and possums that visited our backyard, then fetch a stick or ball.

We have buried him in our backyard, and told the girls that his soul is now in heaven with Poppy (their grandfather) who is looking after him. Yesterday we bought a dwarf orange tree which we have planted in his memory (he loved to roll around on oranges!).

R.I.P Orsey boy xxx

03 April 2015

Happy Easter!!

We are going on holidays next week for 7 whole days! I can't wait!!! I'm so looking forward in getting away from the house and housework, the daily routine of making lunches, getting girls ready for "school", errands, appointments and extracurricular activities that makes it a busy week.

While I love my Mum, it will also be nice to have a little break from her. Its hard being the only one to support her, and while there are days when I will happily help her with her shopping or doing things around her unit, its also very exhausting. 

I do hope we get some hot enough days so we can get down to the beach for some fun! The girls are super egg-cited(!) about going away and can't wait to get in the sand and build sandcastles. 

Most of all I am looking forward to some downtime where I can just relax, enjoy watching my girls have fun, and being with my family.


If you are on school holidays I hope you enjoy your break, and have a wonderful Easter!

I will be taking a break from blogging over school holidays, so I will see you back here in a few weeks!  

xx