A birthday conversation

" La, what do you want for your birthday?"
" Green balloons. Green fires (candles). Hm... green balloons... and RED balloons! Yeah, a green party! *looks at me waiting for him to say more, points to the paper* "Mum, write 'a party'!"
" Okay, so you want a party. Do you want a cake?
" Yeah!"
................. waits for anything else..........
"Okay, La what KIND of cake?"
"Oh! A chocolate cake."
" Good choice. What should it look like?
" Wiggly. Iced. Oh! I know - a bunny!"
"... *pauses* A wiggly iced bunny???"
" Yeah mum, a wabbit?"

At this point Nic asks him what he wants for his cake.
"Chocolate!" (Points for consistency I suppose...)
"Okay but what do you want it to look like?"
"A choo choo clock!" (Erm... a train/clock hybrid?!? LOL)

"Do you want presents?"
"YEAH!"
"What kinds of presents do you like?"
"Toys."

*sigh* I can see this is going to be like getting blood out of a stone... so far the only solid things we've been able to get out of him is that he wants green balloons and chocolate cake! LOL

I think I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!

Friday afternoon I packed up Laurent and Hope and headed out to KCC for the agility nationals. We're not entered but being nationals people are coming from all around the country and among the number of people I've 'met' online but not in person that included Sam and the fantabulous Jahzara who also happens to be Verity's litter sister and Hope's half sister through their mum Tilley. After having chatted online and found a number of aspects of Jahz to sound very similar to both Hope and Veri, I was very excited to both meet them and get to watch not only Sam and Jahz run (!) in person but also a number of other people who are very talented at this whole agility thing. La behaved himself mostly aside from a few tantrums (including a rather spectacular one that had people peering around their cars to see if I wasn't torturing him with hot pokers at the start) although as is typical - having La along means I did more La watching than agility watching. ;-) He did give good amusement with his variety of dog behaviours though - including one that popped up a month or so back which involves scratching his hair with his leg like a dog. ~_~' Strange, strange child!

Saturday was all mine though - Nic was home, La stayed with Nic, Veri and Hope came with me for a day out. It's so funny how so often I'd be looking at Jahz and go, "Now THAT is Veri!" or "That's Hopie all over..." They are also different of course but you could see the relation in them for sure! Kellie who was there with Fyre but who also owns Hope's half brother (same sire, Courage) and found a number of Hope's traits very much like her little man Kruze. I was also pretty pleased with how Veri handled the busy environment, she was pretty good all day albeit occasionally a bit worried and had an unfortunate incident where a man walking backwards stepped on her poor tail. She was supremely convinced Sam was just the coolest though - Sam has VERY good bikkies and was willing to give sharesies! LOL Typical Veri, firmly governed by her stomach! I'm still in awe of watching all the lovely dogs and fantastic efforts on the part of both the dogs and their handlers tbh... both inspired and left with a deep pity for my poor dogs to be stuck with ME as a trainer/handler!

Then Sunday was straight off to Euroa. Another chook auction, supposed to be some large partridge wyandottes. One was nice, one decent and not as nice but one was constantly head-flicking and the other slightly fluffed. So I put in my bid but pulled when it hit the bid hit $140. So instead I came home with a lovely bunch of daffodils courtesy of Tim (whose family owns a gorgeous daffodil and bulb farm) and spent the day chatting with everyone inbetween cuddling Cami to keep warm when it started raining and getting into discussions with everyone in their brother about how I was really, truely, honest to godly sure she WAS an Australian Shepherd and NOT a Koolie and no the breed was not made up or a 'designer' mutt. ;-p Can I also say I really, really, really wish we could change the name to AMERICAN Shepherd... honestly, I think there are a number of people convinced the Yank is trying to have one over on them! ^_^;

After we got home I pretty much collapsed on the couch, combination of being up early and down late for three days while trying to ignore my stomach being queasy, eatting junk (fries, though Veri helped!) and my body trying to turn me into a narcoleptic. I was soon joined by La and dogs. After a few moments of adjusting the blanket to his liking La patted my face to get my attention and said, "Aw, mum... so cute and sweet!" Rather flattered I said thank you La, that's very sweet of you to say to me. He looked at me, pointed at Sierra curled up at the back of my knees and said in a very plain tone said, "No mum! SISI is cute and sweet." Hn. Silly me, of course you were talking about the dog!

Poor Lala

He'd had a nasty cough and a snotty nose, a mild fever and a very-very-very cranky temper the night before last so we'd figured he had a cold and got some syrup from the pharmacist in the morning, who'd told me if he wasn't better in a few days take him to see his GP.

Fast forward to 7pm and after dashing outside into the cool air the rattling in his chest the pharmacist assured me was just congestion flared into full on astmah attack with distressed intercostal and sternal resession, accessory muscles and barely audible wheezing (which is worse than loud because it means less air is getting in to make the noise) and we went to the ER.

We KNEW it wasn't going to be fun. Sure enough he started screaming about the time the nurse took off his socks and clip a pulse-ox thingie to his toe and continued until aproximately 3 am when we left. Insult was added to grave injury as he also had to be stripped, examined, ears/nose/throat checked, heart listened to and worse yet - we were making him stay put instead of running all over flicking buttons or hugging other children. The doctor was concerned the screaming and his sheer insistance they not examine him was due to it being painful and I assured them this was nothing more than a lethal combination of an opinionated, determined 2 year old with a cold, who was over-tired and indignantly outraged at being restrained and forced to be exammed several times. Until we spotted a bottle of bubbles and it instantly turned from a furious bellow to sunshine, clapping and giggling... at which point I think they finally believed me. To be fair, our nurse Wendy was an absolute gem and model for what childrens nurses should be! They still wanted to admit him but I knew he'd never fall asleep there. So at 3 am we finally made it home and collapsed into bed with the appropriate medications to be dosed 3 hourly.

The good news is that Sir is mostly recovered from this and is back to his more sunny, cheery, considerate (but still muleishly determined and into everything) little self. Photos from today to prove it - he is just slightly slowed down enough that I can actually get non-blurry shots of him!

The lighting was just so gorgeous and we had some black cockatoos flying by so his attention was captured long enough for me to snap these!



And demonstrating his fascination with butterflies and windchimes both... ignore the nappy exposure, the pants were a bit big and fall down when he steps on the cuffs! Time to hem...

And this is while waiting for Nic at the train station... he's on my "moh-bwl" phone chattering, "Nic, we at trains - dey say choo choo, 's good trains say chooooo choooo! Nic? Nic? Where awh 'ou?"

"Helpful"

Okay, I already posted today. I know. I'm back. It's my blog and my prerogative to post every little inane detail about my life here if I want! ;-p

More to the point, because it's 1am and I SHOULD be in bed I am logically Not-In-Bed but lolly gagging around and reading Leah's brilliant blog instead. Now half of you already know this perfectly well but for those who don't know - Leah is brilliant and ought to have a badge that says so too, so it's really perfectly understandable that I got caught up reading her post and didn't notice the little pitter-patter of feet down the hallway when those little feet and the attached toddler ought to have been asleep in bed.

Either way though, I didn't hear those little feet pitter-pattering.

I did however notice Hope disappear from where she was laying at my feet, which was a bit odd. Further investigations revealed my helpful toddler armed with a water bowl, "cleaning it" before proffering it to Hope in newly scrubbed and fully pristine condition. "Here Hopie, have a waddah!" Heavens forbid the dog who thinks sheep turds are a delicacy drinks water that's less than fresh! So what's the punchline?

Well, the scrub brush he was using was my toothbrush.

*head-desk*

Today we went to visit a Montessori playgroup open day. I'd been wanting to get Laurent into something as MAP is the only activity we do really but he's not ready for preschool, I'd never be comfortable with creche care until he was fully able to verbalize what happens there and while I'd considered kindermusic, kindergym and such but it didn't seem a good fit.

At any rate, we found this place which is for kids at 2.5 years, sessions 2 hrs each, 2 days a week, maximum of 10 kids, parents welcome to stay or leave. It's about a 30 min drive, actually we'd looked into MPG's in Hawthorn East but it was too far then. The directress and assistants seemed very lovely, very easy to talk with, their thoughts on education and learning very in line to my own.

Laurent LOVED the set-up and went around from one thing to the next going, "Wow! Oh WOW! Wow!!! Mum wow! YAY!" He didn't want to leave and our exit ended with, "Bye bye" in a teary voice any soap opera starlet would envy. The program they have looks nice, diverse, flexable and a lot of stuff right up his alley.

So long story short, we liked what we saw. Hopefully this is a good step for Laurent as well as for getting me a few extra hours every week to dedicate to the dogs and eventually time alone with bubba #2 when it comes.

It's been so busy lately I'm not sure where to start...

I guess the best start is with the photographs. On La's birthday we were at the mall and there was a booth there doing childrens photography so I opted to get some as this place looked like they did more natural poses as well as standard portraits.

At any rate, here's the shots:



After I picked them up, I noticed a sketch we have of Nic's mum at the same age, so I scanned it to show. I've always thought he looks a lot like Nic's mum and uncle when they were little despite everyone claiming I was nuts! What do y'all think?

And the more traditional "posed" shot.

Cute La Moments
* Yesterday while we were at the mall, I went into a lingere store. (NO, that's not the funny part, smart alecs!) Laurent gazed around, grabbed my pants to tug and pointing in awe, "Mum... wotsa bibi!" After I picked out what I wanted, he nabbed it off the top of his pram and examined it carefully, peering into the cups, flipping it around and looking perplexed. "Mum, where'd da bibi GO?!?" I think all the store attendants about choked laughing!

* Today while I was at the breakfast table, all of the sudden I look over and La is out of his highchair, on the floor, cheerfully scarfing a bowl of leftover spagetti noodles. He looks up at me and in the most innocent of voices says, "Mum, it just fell!" complete with a 'would-ya-believe' shrug! (Yeah, I just bet it did, all by itself even...)

* One of the few DVD's he has is Charlie and Lola. After requesting it and being declined due to my being in the other room, La came trotting up with the dvd,playstation, gamecube (which plays dvds since we don't have a regular dvd player), remote control and the video control in his arms in a giant tangled mess. (These were locked in the tv cabinet prior... childproofing devices aren't La-proof devices!) "Mum, I sees Char-wee now?"

And Not So Cute Ones
"OWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!" is the new word at our house. I decided, after he's been a bit rough with me, to say "ow" when he bumped into me or such. He's now taken to yelling, "OWWW!!!" in the most tortured voice whenever he's annoyed, frusterated, not getting his own way or upset. The door won't magically open? "OW!" I refuse to hand him a second apple after he's spit the first out? "Owww...." I won't give him a lolly at the shop? "Owww!!! Owww, ow, owwww!!!" while I get glares from all the little old grandmas secretly sure I'm abusing him. I won't set him down to dash off? "Owww!!!!! Mum, owww!!!!!!" Joyyyyy...

Nic
Well after FOUR YEARS of bugging him to get his drivers liscence he FINALLY went and booked and took the test for his learners! Yee haw!!! Finnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaalllyyy!!! And yes, he passed! ;-p

Comings and Goings...
My little lambs are not so little any more. They will wean around Christmas but they will be sold before then. Their owners are keeping a few but the land at the place they're buying won't support the whole flock. I'm buying the big boy and his mum and possibly a few others. I'm not as thrilled about taking the ewes with the lambs because they're the ones constantly challenging the dogs but thems the breaks.

The Faverolle chicks are growing like weeds, Nic is still tickled pink with Milly, his Rhode Island Red chick. My beautiful little partridge Wyandotte chicks are absolutely darling.

The guy I bought my silkies from and whom I'd asked to buy a pair of goslings from told me that instead of just selling me the average stock he's got a clutch of his exhibition geese and will be picking mine for me from them so they'll be extra pretty.

The Hope's Ouchy Leg Saga
Hope's leg is coming along slowly but surely. It looks like we're finally out of the woods!!! *WHEW* I was so terrified she'd end up needing more surgery and something would go wrong that'd cripple her for life! Okay so it wasn't horribly likely and my vet is good so if we did have to do more surgery I'm sure it'd be fine but it's my worst nightmare to have something go dreadfully wrong like that! In the end, the best guess is something was up there we missed. Swelling went down on the water pills but then as soon as she came off the clavamox swelled back up. I tried comfry compresses and pressure bandages to get the lymph back up to the body and massaging the lymph upward to help and it seemed to settle it. Throughout all this Hope has been a total trooper - she never took her paw from my lap while I was working on her or protested even though it must have been ouchy.

It's almost 1am so I'll have to save the "Me Stuff" till the next time La goes to sleep early!

Hope update - not so great news

You know, the absolute worst words to hear from a vets mouth are "that's weird..."

It's been a week since Hope had her stitches put in and we have gone through more boxes of melolin, gauze and wrap this week than I care to count. I'm fairly sure the pharmacy must think I'm running an illegal hospital given that I'm in there every day buying heaps every few days.

After the surgery, her foot was a bit swollen but I didn't worry as I figured it was a bit of bruising due to the general trauma of snagging herself, surgery and a few stitches that had been underlayed. While changing bandages there wasn't really any bruising though, just swelling. But it looked healthy and she is on clavamox so I decided just to wait and watch. Evening of the third day after her foot was very puffy but the wound was still looking healthy and poking and prodding didn't feel like infection, so I chalked it up to the surgery being a bit more rigorous than Jayne had made it sound, coupled with Hope having pulled off the bandages irritating it. As of last night it began weeping clear fluid, so I guessed lymph and the "normal brusing and swelling" was more like edema. This morning it was puffed up about 3x the normal size and began weeping heavily. It still looked and smelled fine, fluid was clear as water, no temperature, her food and drink intake has been fine and it didn't appear to be tender. It was weird enough I figured I'd have Jayne take a look and sooth my niggling worry-wart feelings.

First thing first, we weighed her and she's lost a kilo in a week - this is despite her intake being fine and actually a bit extra (mince to put her clavamox in 2x day).

She looked at it, examines the stitches and the puffy areas... pokes, prods and goes, "Hmm... that's weird!"

"She's been having her antibiotics?" Yes. "And no fever?" Nope. "Intake is fine?" Pft. She'd be dead before she'd turn down food. "Bandage wasn't wrapped too tight?" Nope - I was careful to wrap it loose and evenly and the swelling didn't relieve when I left the bandage off. "No other discharge?" Nope. "Hm... How long has it been swollen?" Well almost from the start a bit but getting progressively more so but I'd figured it was because of the trauma, underlaying stitches and general surgery. "I didn't underlay them that far though, so that wouldn't explain it and there was no damage to the lymph that would explain the leaking." She paused, looked closer at the stitches and pointed to a little blackish spot in the middle of the healing wound where there's a tissue deficit, "What's that black spot there?" I said I didn't know, I'd thought it was a blood clot. "No, there was no blood vessel damage," she frowned, "and I don't like to see black spots in my surgical wounds." Hm, well we agree on that but bad black spots usually are quite obviously not healthy and this didn't look like that. "Some dogs form a pocket..." she mused. "Yeah but it was a clean, dry, simple wound - was there enough there to really form a pocket?" "No, not really." She continued poking, decided to lance the spot. Nothing. A few more moments, "The fascia was in tact..." Well not that I've got the lovely DVM to go after my name but yeah, it looked fine to me too. "But the only thing I can think is if the barb wire jammed something up in there that I couldn't see. So if it doesn't respond nicely in the next few days our best option may be to go back in and see if there's anything we can find."

IOW exploratory surgery. Razzafrazzing vet, those are dirty words in this house! Meantime Hope is rebandaged, sporting an elizabethan collar, got a 20 kg dose of metacam tonight and a 15 kg dose thereafter and we've got some Frusemide for the next few days so she'll be weeing constantly but hopefully it'll reduce the fluid and decongest the area.

Will try some comfry poultices later and massage the area or use pressure bandages if it keeps puffing up.

There was a funny moment today though, at the vets when Laurent was chanting, "Mum! Mum! Mum!" and Jayne asked him, "Laurent, can you say 'Jayne'?" I don't think she really expected him to answer but he looked at her and rather indignantly said, "Yes!" She blinked and said, "Well then go ahead and say it!" He looked back at her and said, "Jayne!" (Haha... little did she know!!! She thought it was cute!) "Yes?" "Jayne?" "Yes?" "JAYNE!" "Yes?" "Jayne? Jayne! JAYYYYNE!!! JaynejaynejayneJAYNEEE!!!"