Truscott Tellings

We had an awesome school holidays. The middle of the holidays we were house/pet sitting for Pat & Bree while they were on holiday, and did lots of shopping while we were there. We spent the first Friday of the holidays at Kryal Castle, I know I loved it...we packed a picnic for lunch and that meant we could spend all day there and do everything they had on. Jarrad was about the only person hurrahing the Black Knight in the jousting. 

 

Saturday we caught the train to Melbourne to go to the Jurassic World exhibition. That was awesome too but I liked the Dinosaurs Alive we saw in Adelaide slightly more, probably because it wasn't as crowded. Again we packed a picnic lunch because it was so much easier and bought tea at Spencer St Station. We went to Minotaur while we were there and caught up with Cheryl before heading back to Ballarat.

  As something extra to do on our quiet days we played some D&D, Jarrad's been teaching the girls and I how to play for the last 12ish months and we're tracking down the dude who kidnapped santa and cleaned out an entire theives guild in the process. It was forcast snow in some areas of Ballarat while we were there so our couple of cold and wet days we stayed in and watched Downtown no laughing challenges.

That was about all we got up to in the holidays, mum worked a couple of days and Jared's still working heaps and enjoying it (or at least he's enjoying the money lol)

Jarrad and I have renewed our lease (yay!!) so I was thinking while everyone was here of having a bbq/picnic lunch for mine and mum's birthday :)

Mum on Clive's computer

Almost two weeks since Mum had key hole surgery for carpal tunnel. She is doing well but I still need to stay here to help with dressing and undressing. Today we visited the eye surgeon because her eyes were watery. He will do a small op to enlarge the tear duct on 11th  October. We see the hand surgeon on 6th October  to hear when he will do her other hand. I think I'd prefer we wait until next January to let the right hand fully heal since I will need to be here for another month after that is done.
Mum goes to Denise's for the weekends so I have that time at home.and dancing. I can leave Mum for a few hours in the evening or afternoon now as she can manage to get a cuppa when she wants.
We are looking forward to visits from Dayna, Bruce and Millicent and Glenn, Dee and Jules in December.

Docklands Distraction

On Friday we packed up the kids and headed to Melbourne. I've been wanting/needing a bit of a break for a while now and it seemed like a good weekend to do it, while the kids were on holiday and there wasn't Iaido on Saturday.

We drove to Harbourtown in Docklands for lunch and a bit of a shop (and yes, possibly some churros), and then checked into our apartment. We'd booked a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom place, but they gave us 3 bedrooms which was nice. The whole place was pretty fancy, and as I'm sure you've seen on Facebook had a really nice harbour view. Cheryl took some photos of the rooms so I'll get her to post them up in the comments.

We had an early dinner on the esplanade, and a bit of a wander around. It was so nice to have a short walk from our apartment to good restaurants and the like. We did make the mistake of letting the kids have icecream - they're a bit like mogwai, except for sugar after about 2pm.

Saturday we hopped on the free tram (all trams are free in the CBD now!) to the Queen Vic Markets. I've been wanting to get a new leather jacket to replace the not-actually-leather one of Dad's that I have so I bought one, and the kids also spent some of their birthday money. Nobody had slept well the night before (I took a bed near Ossie who woke up at 2 thinking it was morning, and Cheryl shared the biggest bed with Lil who proceeded to kick her all night) so we headed back to the room, and then I went into the city to buy some comics like a proper grown up.

Everything is so close when you stay in the city, so I was done and back by about 2pm :) We headed to a bakery for afternoon tea, and then Cheryl went to the factory outlet place at Spencer St while the kids and I had a bit more of a walk around the harbour/climb on the weird red bald dude statues and then back to the room to rest up.

Another early dinner and really early night for everyone.

Sunday we dropped off the keys and headed to Highpoint, which was only about 15 minutes away. Continuing my trend of being an adult I bought some toys from a collectables place that was closing down, we had lunch, and then came home to Bendigo. Lil had reached her limit at that point so it wasn't worth sticking around any longer. Of course we did go to Daiso, because no trip to Melbourne is complete without going to Daiso.

So that was our trip. Some nice restaurants, a bit of shopping, but for me the best part was turning off my computer on Thursday night and not having to turn it on until we got back home again. That and the churros.

This weekend (weather permitting) we're planning on heading towards Daylesford to see a couple of the waterfalls and have a picnic. Apparently after the deluge we've had in the last few weeks they're particularly nice. No other birthday plans, but maybe we'll go out for lunch or dinner or something.

Lynwood life

sooky girl - still cute

Millicent is two months old now! Can you believe it? I can't.

She had her first lot of shots this week, as well as it being her second Wonder Week and she's had (she has) a bit of a cold. All of this together = unsettled, sooky and clingy baby! Daddy still doesn't cut it when she's really upset.. which means B feels helpless and I'm exhausted. Hopefully she'll be feeling better next week.

Last time I mentioned that we were going to stay in Swansea for the British Science Festival. You may have seen photos on FB - Millicent was a very good girl and coped with lectures, socials, and two days in a busy museum without too much fuss. Granted I fed her at the start of lectures and she'd sleep through the rest. And on Sunday we were on the couch in the museum's cafe for two hours (feeding & sleeping). It was a really tiring week for all of us but we managed without too much drama. 

B's chemistry fun fair Milk for Millicent, bugs for d	Trying to stay positive like a proton

Just after the Festival, I had a day trip to London to renew my passport. That was an even bigger challenge because we didn't have the museum cafe to relax in! I think I was more exhausted than Millicent at the end of the day! Thankfully I don't have to do it again for another 10 years - of the 9 hours I was away from home, I was in the Australian High Commission less than 10 minutes! Just long enough to give Millicent a short feed - yes, I was feeding my baby during my "interview" and the only question asked was whether or not I actually had coloured tips or was it just a bad photo (my hair was tied up on the day, so it wasn't obvious).

Thankfully, there wasn't too much on for the rest of the week. As we've mentioned on the Hangout, last weekend was Cardiff's tribute to Roald Dahl with the 'City of the Unexpected'. We didn't partake in the Saturday shenanigans (there were loads of 'events' in the city but also loads of people!) but we went into Bute Park on the Sunday. We saw Fantastic Mr Fox, caught by the farmers (we heard that he got away later); James' peach; a long table with people in the serving dishes (not sure what that's from); the BFG's chair; and loads of people! :-)

The Animal wall - with extras	BFG-sized
Don't have too much fun..	Mr Fox - caught by the farmers!

We continue with massage class - she let me massage her back this week.. usually she won't let me take part at all! 

Bruce was in the pool for Millicent's third swimming lesson. Once again, she was falling asleep! There's a video here to give you an idea of what she gets up to in the lesson.

John and Gwen are visiting this weekend - it's their 40th anniversary today. We all went out for lunch at The Clink yesterday. Yes, it's in the gaol and yes, it's the inmates who cook, clean and wait on diners. Food was delicious - I had fig and falafel bruschetta, pumpkin gnocchi & a giant piece of coffee & walnut cake! Yum! Bruce had smoked haddock, rabbit with black pudding and a chorizo fritter, and then white chocolate panacotta. He also really enjoyed the food.

Millicent slept well last night (yay) and had a good morning playing on her mat & in her bouncy chair. I hope this continues for the rest of the week (but I won't hold my breath).

As always, I'll add some photos (and added to Millicent's album here)

Quizzical

B & his tiny pirate

Happy girl

Who else has news? Any news will do!!

Lil's test results (all good!)

Just a quick update to let you all know that Lil's test results all came back good :)
She had had the two EEG's and two ultrasounds (abdominal and lower lumbar). We still don't know what caused the initial seizure, but her EEG was normal.
We'll still keep a close eye on her, especially when she's exhausted, but hopefully it was a one and only episode :)

Kris Kringle for 2016

Not sure who started this idea but I spoke to Aunty Denise today. We agree that just my family organise this among themselves. The Hamilton's always do Christmas this way with Rob's family.
I think that giving a family present to Hamilton's, Chatham's  and Flanagan's from all of you could work as long as they know the plan, so they can plan their gifts to you similarly. You could decide just to give to each of the children ( there will be an extra Chatham by then.)When sorted, let Aunty Denise, Josie and Chris  know what the gift plan is.
Consider is Jared an adult. If so is Riley?
Nana wants to continue her money gifts to all so leave her out of that.I also prefer to give each of my family groups money so they can get what they want.
Please let me know what you decide.

Family photo shoot

As we've been discussing in Hangouts, we thought it might be nice to get photos done while everyone is here in Bendigo. Joel Bramley http://www.joelbramley.com/ has done two photoshoots for us previously, and he's both patient and reasonably priced, as well as being quite talented so we've asked if he's available to do it.

We chatted to Mum, and suggest the date of Sunday 18th December, from 10:30 - 11:30.

If this date doesn't work for anyone, let us know, but we're somewhat limited in weekends with everybody here.

Right now we're thinking of using Canterbury Park, Eaglehawk, and then returning to Mum's place for lunch. That also opens us up to Lakes Neangar and Tom Thumb too, if we want some variety in background.

The photo shoot costs $160 for the hour. Joel then goes away, edits the photos and gives us a bunch of high res digital files that we can print ourselves. The suggestion is that each family group puts in $32, and then everybody organises their own printing. These are the groups:

Nana, Mum & Clive
Lisa, Carolynn, Jarrad, Jared, Trin & Daria
Dayna, Bruce & Millicent
Glenn, Dee & Jules
Damien, Cheryl, Oscar & Lily

Regarding outfits, it's generally good to wear plainer (unpatterned, solid colour) clothes. If we want the photos to look particularly awesome we can think about a colour range or temperature that everybody works around, but otherwise just avoiding complex patterns will be a big help.

It's also worth considering what photos we'd like, because over the course of the hour it's easy to forget. For example as well as a couple of whole group photos I would suggest we make sure we get at least one photo of each family group, one of all the kids with Mum, all the kids with Nana, and I'd like one of we four siblings. Anyone else have any requests? I know it can be hard to get nice couple photos, so that might be something to add as well. All the ladies and all the gents together? Anyone want a nice headshot of themself?

If we have a list to work to we can try to get Millicent's photos done first as well.

One last thing - for those of us with camera shy kids, I'd recommend talking to them about it and making sure they understand that we want to get a few really nice photos. We did that with Os and Lil and it made them more patient and more willing to pose, wheras they tend to run away from the candid shots.

Here's a couple of photos to help think about colour. For the first lot we went with blues with Lil as a highlight (since there weren't many of us), for the second lot there was more variety with greys, blues, browns and blacks (with Edith and Charlotte as highlights).

Millicent's first swimming lesson

We're just on the way home from Millicent's first time in a swimming pool. ;-) As you can see, Bruce took her for her first lesson. She cried, she slept (almost) and she got dunked - once accidentally by Bruce (oops) and once on purpose by the instructor (an underwater "swim"). More photos here.

She's zonked now.. but we'll see whether or not that means she'll sleep well tonight. To be honest, she has been asleep a lot today - wonder if that means she's going through a growth spurt.. 

(Awake at 12:30am for first night feed)

We discovered "wonder weeks" recently - anyone else heard of them? They're essentially mental growth spurts and happen fairly predictably in the first couple of years. Bub gets ratty for up to a week whilst the "mental leap" occurs then has new skills (or a new perspective). 

We think Millicent has just gone through the Week 5 leap - they're calculated by due date so she's a week out...  After being a fairly good baby (some crying, lots of sleeping - except 4am-6am, loads of spitting up - usually down my cleavage), she had a couple of days where I struggled to put her down at all! If she wasn't being cuddled, she'd cry! And for at least a day, the cuddling had to be with me - Bruce wasn't enough! So tiring!

On the up side, yesterday she seemed much more alert! She was watching everything and everyone! It was good timing because we met up with my team from work and went to Sci Comm drinks at the British Science Festival. It was a change that she wasn't just sleeping or eating! :-)

Anyway, tomorrow we're having a "short break" - we're staying in Swansea for two nights so it's easier for Bruce to work the weekend. We're using this as a trial run for travelling with baby.. will we remember everything? (It isn't that far if we forget something important). We're planning another "trip with baby" around Halloween - popping across to Romania with Vicki and Steven (yet to be confirmed). Millicent's (British) passport turned up today - it's so cute! - so we can now take her abroad. Well, once I get MY passport renewed. :-) 

So we're slowly getting ready for our trip home. I'm excited to see everyone! And it's a bonus that it's for Xmas. Any requests for British stuff? Let me know asap because everything takes a bit longer these days. ;-)

And here's some more photos..

*hugz*

Mum's new computer

Not sure why I made the decision I did. I'd planned on needing at least 8gb Ram and a 1 Tb hard drive. When the Centre Com salesman said these HP Pro's are great and so quick, I should have said, I'll check them out, Instead I said I'l take it. So no DVD drive and only 4Mb of RAM. It can be upgraded at a cost. It has a SSD drive that my computer guru has explained is a very large usb drive. He will put Family Tree Maker on it for me and my very old 2003 Office that has publisher and doesn't require more paying to use.
Certainly initially very fast since it rewrites on a new spot rather than deleting and rewriting.
Need to get a CD drive that will plug into the USB. Disappointed in myself.

Simon has now gone on holidays so when he returns he'll come back to see where I've got to. Need to work out how to get emails on the new computer.

Other than that, I'm modelling again next Tuesday so went to Castlemaine to check out clothes on Thursday, Five of us to model are all mature age, but I am feeling fat. Clothes are from Marion and me. I seem to think the new clothes are very old fashioned. Maybe that reveals my age?Three outfits each for the five of us.

Last Tuesday I took mum to see a specialist about her hands. Decided she needs a carpal tunnel release so it is surgical (hopefully keyhole and will happen on 15th September for her right hand. When it is recovered he'll do the left. Right is less damaged than left. I'll stay with her for Thursday and Friday night at least and we will probably need someone there for the week. At the surgery is info on Cool Sculpting where they freeze unwanted fat cells. Sounds too good to be true but I'll check on the price next time I'm there. (Just what I need, Non surgical tummy tuck)

On a lighter note, the Spinners are redisplaying the winning entry from the Wool Show at a Snugglepot and Cuddlepie live show next Thursday. Members will be spinning before the midday show and eight are attending the 2pm show.(including me). Will get more info next Wednesday. Last Wednesday Clive and I went to Swan Hill for his brother in law's memorial service( Jim was 88 and had lived a very full life.)

On Saturday Clive and I went to Melbourne to have lunch with his daughters. we caught up with one granddaughter but the other was working. Busy girls with part time jobs and boyfriends while dealing with Uni . Chloe has just been offered a research assistant job at the Uni she's attending. She is doing Psychology.

Good to catch up and Clive received some lovely Father's Day gifts from both of the girls. We were back in Bendigo in time for dinner and to get to the Spring Gully dance on Saturday night, Night off tonight.

I continue to remove weeds from the garden especially the very healthy stinging nettles. Much more to do but I thought I'd put wraps on my nails tomorrow so the garden will have to wait.Also a friend is calling for help with Facebook. I need to show her how to limit your audience to family or friends and to get rid of posts you don't want to see.

Great to know Dayna, Bruce and Millicent will be coming for Christmas. Plenty of time for me to make room and declutter a bit. Also need to be very organised for Christmas here..

Look forward to more posts. I see Damien had a successful Iiado seminar this weekend. FB is very handy.

Lily's Party Time

As mentioned on Facebook, Lil had a bit of a four day Birthday Extravaganza. Cheryl's posted some photos on Facebook, so head over there to check them out.

Saturday we had family over for afternoon tea - scones with jam and cream, plus bonus savoury scones from Mum, followed by tiny birthday cupcakes.

Sunday was a party at the Fun Factory. Originally we had planned to combine both events into a party at home, but the uncertainty of the weather combined with the presence of stinging nettles through the yard convinced us otherwise. Once I saw 9 little girls running around screaming I was confident we had made the right choice.

It was great to have someone else organise the food, location and entertainment and pretty much just have to turn up. The 90 minutes went by really quickly, but both kids were exhausted and happy.. and I think if it had been a little longer we might have seen tears.

Monday was Lil's actual birthday of course, so for the third day in a row she got presents, this time from us (and Max). Because of the excitement of Sunday, and Kinder being the following day, we kept things fairly quiet and calm. She played with all her new toys, did some bubble blowing outside, and got a special package in the mail from Auntie Rach.

We went to Jojoes for dinner, which was Lily's choice and booked in her name :)

Finally Tuesday was Kinder day, and Lil took in boxes of smarties to give to all the kids. A nice ending to her birthday funtime, giving out presents instead of receiving them.

This Saturday looks to be equally busy, although this time for me and Cheryl more than the kids. I've got the Iaido seminar with Shihan Takeo all day. Lis is helping with water, which is awesome. Cheryl, meanwhile, will bring Os to the seminar when it starts (I've got to be there an hour or so earlier to set up), then go home and order pizzas for lunch (Anne, one of the other students' Mums, has offered to pick them up) and then take Lil to a party, and then pick Ossie up after lunch. So relaxing ;)

Lynwood Life

(i started this a week ago.. time flies when you're got a newborn at home!)

Can't believe our little one is four weeks old already! The days all blend into one.. :-) Bruce has had two weeks back at work and I had a couple of adventures last week (this week I've just been at home).

Last Monday I had an appointment at the hospital.  Because Bruce was back at work,  we took public transport - which meant two buses and a ten minute walk! And that was just too get there! Millicent was pretty good about it... she slept for most of the bus trips but didn't like waiting between times (especially as it got closer to her dinner time). 

Because we were out and about for most of the day, I had to get over my fear of breastfeeding in public - Bub's gotta eat! I gave her a quick feed in the waiting room at the hospital and then fed and changed her in the hospital gardens after my appointment (ooh, Al fresco!) We caught another bus to the uni where I fed her again (yes, she's a hungry little thing) and she slept most of the day after that.

I caught up with a couple of people at uni (most were away on holiday) and then went into town for lunch.. mm crepes. Unfortunately, my plan to head home at 3pm was scuppered by the fact that there were already two buggies on the bus (there's only enough space for two on each bus). So I had to wait for the next one.. and that wasn't for another half an hour! I didn't take the news very well - you don't tell an exhausted new mother that she can't go home and has to wait... in the rain! Needless to say, I was first on the next bus! Ah, adventures.

Last Friday Cardiff Chemistry had their staff BBQ, so I caught the bus in again (only one bus this time) and took Millicent to meet people. Of course, she was sleeping most of the time.. And eating if she wasn't sleeping! Terrie had a cwtch (a Welsh cuddle) and some of my work mates ooohed and aahhhed over her (the guys more than the girls!). Feeding her in front of my colleagues was a bit weird.. none of them thought so, but I'm definitely not used to getting my boobs out in public yet (and you have to, even with the best nursing tops). Bruce came in to town after work, so I didn't have the hassle of a bus home (and we had take away for tea because it was later than we expected). 

Unfortunately, they're the only stories I've got for this fortnight. Looking after a newborn takes more time and effort than you might expect (and yes, I know that most of you already know this)! I think she's getting a bit better at settling for sleep at night (hope I haven't jinxed things) and she seems to have more alert phases during the day. It's incredible think that she's four weeks old now.. it seems like the time has flown and dragged at the same time!

Here's the link to Millicent's photo album (photos of her, not ones she's taken): https://goo.gl/photos/DE2bwWQa15HXLU2M8

We'll add more to this as time goes on. Let us know if you want the original files (the ones on Google are smaller). 

What have you all been up to?

Lily's paediatrician appointment

We met Lily's paediatrician on Tuesday, Dr Tennakoon. He seems like a nice dude.

Long story short the EEG didn't show anything concerning. We're going to get another one done - a sleep deprived one, to closer mimic the conditions of the first seizure - which Lil thinks it's awesome because she gets to stay up until 10pm watching movies on the iPad (with headphones, so Ossie doesn't get woken up). When I wake her the next morning at 5am we'll see how much she likes it ;)

Apart from that she needs another "99.9% it's nothing, but I just want to make sure" test relating to her birthmarks, but he's said it's entirely likely we wont need to see him again.

The sort of doctor you want is the doctor you don't need to see ;)

Assuming all tests come up normal I reckon we'll just keep doing what we're doing - trying to make sure she doesn't get really exhausted over a few days, don't let her climb high up in trees, and make her wear a stackhat on the bike.  A few friends I've spoken to with medical backgrounds have said it's sometimes just a thing that happens once and never again, so hopefully that's it.

Millicent Valenna

I know I've introduced her on hangouts, but let me "formally" introduce the newest member of our family, Millicent Valenna Rogers. She was born at 00:56 on Friday 22nd July 2016, weighing 3.53kg (7lb 12).

She's named after our grandmothers:

- Millicent was B's paternal grandmother (who died when B's dad, John, was only 10 years old). 

- Valenna is a name that B invented, combining Valda (Nana Staley) and Lena (Nana Hicks) (my maternal grandmother and great grandmother - but you probably know that).

As you know, we didn't know whether we were having a little girl or a little boy (most of you guessed correctly). We couldn't quite agree on a boy's name (we'd got it down to three options), but we had Millicent's name all picked out from very early on. Lucky, hey?!

No one guessed the right date for Bub's arrival - but Daria was the closest with a guess of 21st July. Daria, is there any British chocolate or lolly that you'd like?

More than a week down the track and I think I'm finally getting the hang of breastfeeding, although I know there's a long way to go (especially if I want to go out! I couldn't feed in public yet!). 

Lissa still doesn't sleep unless she's being held, but we're going to try to do something about that this week (before B's paternity leave is up!). Thanks Damien & Cheryl for the loan of the hugabub wrap - I wouldn't have had any sleep without it! 

And I think that both Bruce and I are getting better at the little things - changing nappies (which she hates), dressing and undressing her (which she can't stand), and trying to comfort her after doing the previous things many times per day. We haven't given her a bath yet (she had one in the hospital and they said once a week was plenty). Maybe we'll try that tomorrow.

I'll add some photos to this post tomorrow - they're on the tablet (and the camera) and that isn't within easy reaching right now.

*hugz* to all, and Happy Birthday to all of you who celebrate at this time of year. ;-P

Busy, Busy with Parties

Things have been very busy here with me helping out mum while she finished her Diploma and working lots, I've been doing the school run when needed and even slowly working out school lunches (mainly just Daria's because Trin now packs her own).

Two weeks ago we had Daria's party which went really well, was really nice weather so everyone played outside. I did heaps of cooking and made her Birthday cake, and this weekend is Trin's party, so lots more baking. She's having an anime themed costume party with anime-inspired food, and the Cat Bus from My Neighbough Totoro as the cake but I'm not telling her that it's a pinata cake with lolly stars in the middle. I will post pics of it when its made, that's today's job around Dr's appointments and getting the girls from school. 

Jarrad still hasn't got an answer on what could be wrong with him, this new Dr he's seeing has been the best and most helpful so far and has tested for everything and referred him to St Vincents in Melbourne to see a specialist there (can't remember what type though) because all the tests are normal. His mum's house in Bendigo also sold so we're looking for a car, we've been borrowing cars from mum, mostly the laser but I can't drive it so it means I walk more in the mornings (Pokemon Go is amazing for that) 

We've now been in our place for 6 months and everything's working properly now, our agent went on maternity leave 3 months ago and the person filling in for her got everything sorted!! Our normal agent is back (as far as I know) and things are back to not happening but nothing major needs work and no inspections. 

I think that's all from us, I'll let mum update with what's happing there :)

Stomach bugs and headbutts

We’re all recovering from a stomach bug this week.

You may have already seen the photo: Jules bumped his head on Saturday, playing with a plastic crate we’d bought to allow us to put some of his older toys into storage ahead of his birthday. It wasn’t too bad, although it came up in a nasty bruise very quickly, and it was on top of two other head-bumps he’d given himself at preschool in the preceding week.

He was fine after a good cry, albeit a little more wary of the crate. The next morning, however, he was throwing up — a sign of potential concussion and head injury — so after a call to a nurses’ helpline we bundled him off to Sydney Children’s Hospital for a check-up.

A few hours later he got the all clear. One lymph node was up, apparently, but doctor suggested it was likely he had a bug of some kind. We kept him home from preschool on Monday to keep an eye on him.

He was back at school on Tuesday, but by then Danielle was feeling the first effects of the (now confirmed) stomach bug — we came home instead of heading to work. It hit me a few hours later, although not as badly — I’m not throwing up, just extremely queasy — and today we’re both just exhausted from the disturbed sleep and fever.

Cardiff capers

First things first, Bruce's visit with the prince. Ok, he didn't actually meet him but you can see that he got pretty close!

Apparently the day was a little bit frustrating - firstly, it was too windy for the helicopter to land so that delayed proceedings; secondly, the Gala Concert was an opera singer and B didn't enjoy it (especially as they kept stopping after each song because they expected Prince Charles to arrive... And then he didn't.. until it was almost over); thirdly, B had a school workshop to run that afternoon but since everything was delayed, they wouldn't let them onto campus until after Prince Charles had left, which meant a much later workshop and longer workday for B.

B's continued to be busy at work with Summer Schools, workshops, and random events. Whereas after a busy final week for me, I've been at home with my feet up (and occasionally answering emails to finish handover, which I'm happy to say I've done now).

The latest bumpdate is here:

We've had an interesting weekend - Saturday and Sunday nights I had itchy hands and feet, which is one of the things they say to watch out for. After speaking to someone on the phone Sunday morning, they suggested coming in for a blood test. Rather than going home, we headed in to town for lunch, shopping and to wait for results. As with many things on a Sunday, it took longer than expected and we were at home again by the time they phoned to tell me to come back in. We ended up being in the hospital from 5:30pm till 2:45am and most of that was waiting! Turns out a few of my results are off - none of them a huge worry by itself but in combination they point to a pregnancy liver issue and increased risk to bub. So, they're going to induce me.. we just have to wait for a bed. We've been back to the hospital Monday and today (to check on bub) and they'll phone tomorrow to let us know if there's a bed.

Bub is absolutely fine - good heartbeat, lots of movements and apparently "a good size" baby (which I think means on the larger side).

So, it's not how we hoped it would happen but chances are bub will miss out on being a Leo by a few days! And I'm secretly hoping that I don't end up sharing a birthday. :-)

Your turn for news! Give me something to read during the "waiting time"! 

Gordon St Gossip

So first things first - no more seizures from Lil so far. She had her EEG a little while back, and we're booked in to see the paediatrician in early August - until then there's not much we can do. We take turns sleeping on the floor of the kids' room to keep an eye on her, and we're making sure she doesn't have a few really energetic days in a row, but that's just guesswork. Still, no news is good news.

Cheryl's brother and his family are back from Malaysia for 6 months, and her sister is over from Queensland for a week during uni break, which meant Cheryl managed to work out the one afternoon where everybody was available and organised Joel to take photos. We were very lucky with the weather - there was an hour between showers, there was no strong breeze and it was nicely overcast, which all made for wonderful winter photos.

If there's a day where Dayna, Bruce, babby, Glenn, Dee and Jules will all be in Bendigo it'd be worth considering getting a shoot done. Joel's great - very patient, and not too expensive. Plus he gives you digital copies of the photos, rather than charging huge sums to get printed versions.

Here's a few favourites (he sent through 99 photos in total)