Feeling poorly

It's been raining for days. I've lost count how many.
We now have an indoor loo (that's toilet for you non Australian readers). It's in the house. With a door & a light. Fancy.
We have all been sick. ivy has a nasty cough that wakes her (& us) many times a night. Finn has had an ear infection that's had us very worried with a loss of hearing. The hearing loss started to present about 2 weeks before the infection. we eventually took him to the dr. last Monday "just in case" as his hearing was so bad & we were freaking out a bit. No sign of anything. Two days later he woke at 5am crying in pain. Coincidence or incompetant Dr? We had changed doctors so this was out 1st visit with a new one. To return or not to return?
His ear pain has gone with no medication, we are not keen to introduce antibiotics ever, due to the connection with autism & gut issues which have always been very obvious with Finn. His hearing seems to be improving over the last couple of days too, thank goodness. His behaviour is extremely challenging though.
Kim & I also are fighting the same cold they both have.

Today Brody minded the little people while Kim & I went to the movies together for the 1st time in over 5 years. I was pregnant with Finn last time we went.
We were going to see Mary & Max. http://www.maryandmax.com/
The story of a 40 yr old NYC man with Aspergers who had a penfriend in an 8yo Australian girl. Brody saw it & insisted we see it.
The add in he paper was wrong. Not showing today. All the effort of getting organised to go out. I had even put a skirt on! The anticipation of sitting at the movies for 2 hours holding hands with my gorgeous man who I hardly ever see. Too much disappointment, I cried.
I had a rant & asked for a free double pass. They took my details & said they'll see what they could do. I'll be waiting.
Not a good day.
No photos lately. Too busy, poor weather & not enough time each day to even think about it.

The House

  This is what our house looks like these days. 

Both doors you can see are temporary. Kim will be making all the doors to match the windows. We had the big ironbark corner posts delivered this week so we are looking forward to getting them installed, it will make a big difference to finish those corners off! 



 
The birds visit throughout the day. We love them!


The photos above were taken at 7am one morning last week, the ones below at about 4pm. 



the open window above is my workroom. I will be ebaying with a view in the near future! 



We're still enjoying those Bilpin apples! 












I had to include this one of Ivy! She is growing up  SO fast at the moment & turning into the most gorgeous lovable little thing. She is loving day care so much that she now goes 3 days as she is sad every day she can't go. Yesterday morning she asked me what day it is. At 3 she knows which days are which & when I sad "Tuesday" her eyes lit up & she yelled "Yipppeeeeee!!!". it was a Cottage day! She is so sociable, she has made lovely little friends & already want to have friends over to play all the time. She can't walk past flowers without wanting to pick some & then she has to pick one for herself, one for Emma, one for Charlotte (her twin friends) , one for Heidi, & on it goes. They then have to go into water to stay nice until she goes to the Cottage to hand them around. She loves all tings pretty, pink, floral, sparkly, shiny & bright. She gets so excited & enthusiastic about seeing or having anything pretty & is often exclaiming, "ohhh, it's sooooo beautifullll!!!!".  She hates seeing me upset & is always trying to make me happy. She really is a sweetheart, I am so lucky to have her! 












Finn looking out his bedroom window. Yes, he is wearing a dress.  I'm not one to say no unless it's important.  He's exploring gender issues at the moment. If he wants to wear a dress so be it. He wasn't comfortable wearing it from home to the car to go to the block, so he undressed & then re-dressed when we got there. He gets called a girl a lot. It doesn't seem to bother him a lot, but it is bothering him more as he forms an understanding of the difference. Some days I'd love to cut his hair off, it takes too much of my time to brush & he's had lice which is a headache (excuse the pun). It's a constant threat, "sit still or I'll get the scissors". He yells "NO" every time. "Well sit still then" etc, etc. He's adamant he want to keep it. It's hardly surprising. I wonder about ADD these days as it is so common in AS kids. His concentration is still fabulous if he is interested in something but gets worse with the mundane things like getting dressed, picking up toys or listening to instructions. We will often be talking to him & end up saying "OK?" & his response is "Huh?".  There is also auditory processing disorder to consider, I have the symptoms of this so it's likely it will be a bigger issue for him. He is fascinating. Such a complex little soul. Last night at 3am Kim & I lay in bed with him between us discussing the meaning of the term "in the meantime". He's exlporing language & takes on new phrases & big words every week. this week he starting using "assume". I assume this is ....etc. He's not even 5 yet! We are letting him have time on the computer these days, he is absolutely fascinated with them. He plays games on the ABC Playground site as well as Nickelodeon (Dora & Wubsy). He is amazing at teaching himself how to navigate around & is very interested in how to fix computer problems (yayyy, my own computer technician!!). He is completely obsessive though & his computer time usually ends in tears when we tear him off it. He is also slowly learning to read through his computer time, books & a new interest in letters. He can write his name & wants to write more & is finally drawing in a very basic way. He's also exploring the idea of friendship. It's all a bit foreign to him so he has to ask lots of questions (I measn LOTS) & play around with concepts to get them. At the moment if Kim or I do something that makes him particularly happy he tells us that we ar ehis "best" friend. Kim was told the other day that he was Finn's best friend & Mummy wasn't his friend at all! I didn't take it personally. 

Fastening the last of the cladding. 

Early morning in our kitchen. I love this room. It gets sun all day.

The cupboards & benches are a mish mash of garage sale finds & donations. 

It will do for now. It's bigger than we have in our current house! 

We have had our frame inspection, a few minor changes have been made & we are now ready to get into the bathroom. The electrician will be called soon. Things are finally getting exciting, it's all coming together.  We are just focusing on whatever is needed to get us moved to the caravan. So much work still to do!  I'm hardly ever there, every spare moment is spent ebaying to keep the expenses paid. I'm trying to find some sort of balance between work, kids, housework & a little me time. That is minimal at the moment, my photography has been almost put on hold temporarily as I get too caught up in it & neglect the work & kids. 

  I had a major computer crash about 4 weeks ago, I nearly lost thousands of photos. I had 48 hours of waiting to see if the fix-it guy could restore them, which he did. I lost about 15 pics out of I'm not saying how many because it's too embarrassing. It cost $300 for repairs, $200 for the external hard drive I should have bought a long time ago & a weeks lost income. Plus about 2 years off my life & a few handfuls of hair (I lose hair when very stressed, which is often). I badly need a new computer!  Maybe I'll do something extremely rare & buy a lottery ticket this week! 

 

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's day this year. 

I was treated to a sleep in til 9.30, was given chocolates & flowers & tea in bed. Chelsea arriving at 10am. We had a lovely brunch of smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, croissants, champagne & orange juice. 

We then took a drive to lovely Bilpin to pick some apples. The weather wasn't great but we managed to get an hour between rain to have some fun,

                                                                            eat apples,



explore,


try & avoid mum's camera,


juggle apples,


juggle & eat apples atthe same time,


wander aroud ,


find HUGE apples,


enjoy our big sister,




look beautiful in the orchard,



run!


climb on the equipment,


play catch with apples ,


smile for the camera (OMG!),


pose for the camera (thanks Ivy!),


order people around,


be happy, 











and enjoy having the whole family together.

  We then had hot chocolates at a cafe & returned home where Brody cooked lasagne for dinner, while I soaked in the bath in candlelight. It was a lovely day, I felt very spoilt & blessed to be a mum to these 4 gorgeous kids!

  Stay tuned for a house update!