It's been a while, hey? I've missed having this space to come to with my mindless thoughts and I hope that somewhere out there, some one's missed hearing from me for a little while. Come hell or high water, today I'm going to finish a post...
So, in actual fact, while life's been busy and work's been nuts, I actually don't have too much news. Looking back to when I last posted for Connor's birthday at the end of March, I'll start from then.
Connor had a lovely birthday and we all enjoyed sharing it with him. My mom and Jake baked him a little cake for his birthday, which Jake iced & decorated, and we had a little tea party and sang for him when I got in from work...
Connor loved being able to pick the cherries of the top and helped himself to a slice my mom had cut for my dad. He made a quick getaway and thoroughly enjoyed crumbing the cake throughout the house...
Our two boys...
That evening, we went to Paul & Jo for pizzas and more cake. Connor only lasted long enough for us to sing to him again, before heading off to bed...
Jo and Paul had a little party for Connor at their house too, over the Easter weekend. It was lovely and the kids all had a ball. Jo did really well and I've got my fingers crossed she's going to help me plan Jake's party, which is just around the corner...
They ordered a ball pit, which the older kids enjoyed more than the little ones (excuse Jake's eye - I'll explain later)...
Connor LOVED the balls...
Mommy and her boy...
I love it!! How naughty does this face look...
With a little bit of bribery, I managed to get a snap of Jake with Connor (Jake avoids the camera like the plague at the moment)...
A Barney cake, with singing candle - Connor just wanted to get his hands dirty...
Just before the Easter weekend, on the Wednesday, Jake was stung by a bee. He's been stung plenty of times before this (a whopping 6 times to date!), so when I heard him scream, I knew exactly what had happened and managed to scrape the sting out with a knife quite quickly. From past experiences, I know that bee stings ache and that the area around the sting swells. I didn't expect Jake's hand to swell to the proportions that it did though. Unfortunately, I didn't have any anti-histamines in the house, so we rubbed cream for bites & stings on the wound. By bed time his hand was still swelling up. By the next morning, his hand was so swollen, it was hard. My sister took him in to the pharmacy and they gave him another type of cream and an anti-histamine. By the time I got home from work, he had red lines running up his arm into his armpit from all directions. Rushed him to the doctor and turns out that because of the bee sting, he'd gotten a lymph infection. Strictly not because he's allergic to bees (that reaction causes breathing problems), merely because of an infection on his skin that was pushed into his lymph gland in his hand when the bee stung him. Unlucky. He had to keep his hand elevated (imagine trying to get a kid to keep their arm up all the time?) until the swelling came down. He went straight onto antibiotics and more anti-histamines and it was only later the following day that the swelling started to come down slightly. The doctor made it very clear that the lymph infection and severe swelling were very serious, which didn't do much to calm my nerves. Jake's fingers looked like little pork sausages.
These pictures were taken after we'd been to the doctor. Note the red from the infection. I was a little worried...
After visiting the doctor on Thursday afternoon, we headed off to Pringle Bay to spend the night there with our friends, Wesley & Lizelle. Our friends from Augrabies were down in the Cape for Easter, so we met up with them at their family holiday home in Pringle Bay. Despite there being a power failure the entire time we were there, the weather was perfect and it's such a gorgeous corner of the world. Jake packed his fishing rod and Wesley's dad, Fred, who will be Jake's principal at big school next year, took him down for a bit of fishing off the rocks on Friday morning. Look how big my boy looks! I can't believe he's nearly 6...
Wes and the kids watching the fishing from a safe distance...
Jake managed to catch 6 of these "beauties". That's about 6 more than his Uncle Gareth's caught. Ever. They're just little klipvissies (rock fish), about 10 - 15cm long, but Jake was pretty disappointed at having to throw them back to sea rather than braai (BBQ) them...
This is the view from the beach. The house we stayed in was directly across the road, so the views are spectacular and, besides the troops of baboons regular visits, it's one of the most relaxing places I've been to in a while...
This is Lara-Lyn. She's just about to turn 4...
And Wes with his boy, Robert, who's just turned 2...
There's a little lagoon on the beach where the river meets the sea at high tide. The water's warm and shallow, so it's the perfect place for the kids to swim. Jake was told by a little girl at school about 2 years ago, that his feet stink, so now he's got issues about taking his shoes off. I try my best to ignore it, but it's annoying and he's missing out on the fun because of it. He's not tactile intolerant, just doesn't like having stinky feet...
He ended up getting his shoes soaked anyway (I have never met a kid who goes through shoes as quickly as this one does), so he was forced to take them off when he got in the car to head off home again. We only spent one night in Pringle and it's only an hour's drive away, so not too far. Oh, added to the hand issues, his eye started to flare up on Thursday night. By Friday morning it looked as if he'd been in a fight and by Friday night I felt compelled to call our doctor at 9:30pm. Saturday morning, we were back in the doctor's room and turns out that, also due to the infection Jake had, he's got an infected cyst in his eye. It was sooooo sore, poor guy. Also, Connor's party happened after all this...
Next up was Easter. As always, I tend to forget to take photos - I get more excited than the kids...
Jake was totally spoilt and I think he'll be eating Easter eggs until Christmas. He had a hunt at home, a hunt at Rosanne & Gareth's house and one at my mom's. BRAT. Connor and his family joined us at my mom & dad's for lunch. Here's Jake helping Connor look for eggs...
Our delicious Easter lunch. For those non-vegetarian readers, it's fillet steak, butterflied, then butterflied again (so it opens up into a big sheet), filled with feta, fresh figs and ginger preserve. it was delicious!!!
Lunch was served at my parent's new dining room suite. They've bought a 10-seater with the hope that I'll find someone to warm the 10th chair soon. I'm hoping that either Jo has another baby soon, or that Rose and Gareth decide to start a family...
The "chinks" on the table - I love them and they last forever...
Other than that, the school holidays have come and gone and life's back up to full steam. We've got a holiday coming up next Tuesday and I've taken Monday off (the schools are closed on Monday), giving me a nice long weekend to look forward to. Things have been so busy and I've done my best to keep the coming weekend totally free. I want to take Jake trout fishing in Worcester and I want to go to Buitenverwachting for a picnic next Monday, but the rest of the time will be spent at home. I need to start sorting out photos to hang on my walls, I'm getting bored of all the blank spaces. And I need some lamps. And some plants.
Jake went for an occupational assessment about 2 weeks ago. His teacher is a little worried about his fine motor co-ordination. She said he's just slightly delayed with his drawing and writing. I guess it's partly my fault though, life's so busy we very rarely get time to sit and draw or colour in. On the flip side, I do believe that schools play a huge part - the kids are allowed to play outside when they're done with their tasks and, those of you who know Jake even a little, will know that sitting inside drawing while his friends are climbing the jungle gym, just isn't going to get his attention. So, he rushes. I don't blame him, I'd be exactly the same. Still, I hate to think of him falling behind in any way and I'd hate for him to start off in Grade 1 playing catch up and getting into trouble because he's not up to scratch. So, OT, we'll do. He's hopefully going to start this week, providing that the therapist calls me back. She's hoping to have things on track within 3 - 6 months and considering that he's only going to be seeing her for 30 minutes, once a week, I'm guessing that it's what we put in at home that'll determine how quickly we get done. I've bought him a whole bunch of things to do at home too, which he's loving (paint by number, origami and cut & paste exercises). I'm trying to be home more, so that we have unrushed time to play.
There's not a lot else happening at the moment. Jake & I were planning a trip to Belgium with the outlaws for later in the year, but we've postponed that until June/July next year. I asked Jake if he'd like to go on holiday with me this year too, mentioning a few local places I'm keen to visit, but he just wants to go back to Kruger. Our only opportunity this year for a holiday would be during the September school holidays, which are just 10 days long and the campsites within Kruger are already fully booked. People have to pay in full by a month before they plan on staying in the park, so I'm leaving things until then and hopefully we'll still be able to get a night or two anyway. Otherwise we'll do a road trip somewhere, let the wind carry us...
Anyway, nearly home time for me. I hope I've salvaged myself a little with this post. Sorry I've been so shocking about keeping my blog updated. I've hauled my laptop out of the cupboard at home too, so I'll try at least doing the typing at home to upload at work until I manage to sort out internet access at home.
Time to love and leave you with one last question: why is it that we always want what we cannot have??
Love Sue XXX
