So it's been over a year since I last blogged...

Okay, ummm it's been over a year since I last wrote a blog and I have no excuse other than life is extremely busy and anyone who has a kid/s will know this! Elsa and Lucas are growing at mammoth speed and Daniel and I often find ourselves looking at them in wonder at just how big they have become and how fast they have grown. Where does the time go? Usually in rushed mornings of packing school lunches and bags, Kindy and school drop offs and pick ups, soccer practices, play dates, being outdoors on scooters and bikes, hitting the beach, exploring new playgrounds...the list is endless not to mention the cooking, cleaning, washing, and all that mundane and boring stuff. And all too often the days roll into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years and before you know it, another year has passed (like my last blog entry indicates!). I am not going to try and re-cap what has happened in the last year but what I will mention is that now that Elsa has started Kindy four days-a-week, I have child-free time on my hands! The last time this happened was over 3 years ago and while it felt weird to begin with (and I still often get the guilts too), I have adjusted to it very well now! And believe me, 6 hours goes by very quickly. The BEST part of being child-free means that I can do parent help with Lucas and his class. This means I can put my hand up if they need assistance to help with excursions etc. I have been helping on a weekly basis with reading, pre-paring art work and whatever else Lucas' teacher may need help with. I spent one day looking after a group of kids at the Rippa Rugby wich was an awesome day and so much fun. Another time was going with the class and looking at the changing colours of autumn leaves and collecting these and talking about evergreens and deciduous trees. I have been LOVING it and the kids are such a neat bunch to get to know. This coming Friday the kids will be heading to MOTAT and I will be tagging along and I cannot wait! So far Lucas doesn't mind me helping with his class. But come the day when it is no longer cool having mum in the classroom, that might be when I have to move onto Elsa and her class! I really enjoy having Elsa with me one day a week and we call this "Mummy & Elsa's Day". This is a day where we don't plan anything and just do whatever we feel like on the day. Some days we end up hanging at home and having so much fun colouring in, baking, watching Max & Ruby and learning how to write Elsa. She can now recognise her own name and the "E" in her name so whenever Elsa sees a sign with the letter E in it she will exclaim "that's my name!" even if it says "Takeaways". Elsa has recently become a Pumpkin Patch model and she has taken to it like a duck to water. I got a call about a month ago asking if Elsa would like to come in and do a shoot as they thought she would look gorgeous with the colours they were going to be launching for the Summer 2012 catalogue. Elsa had a great time and to her it's all about dressing up and having photos taken. Pumpking Patch were obviously impressed by Elsa as after the first shoot, the following week she was asked to attend an outdoor location at Wynyard Quarter. Because you shoot in opposite seasons, here was Elsa in a summer dress shivering away with the winter wind blowing a gale. Poor wee thing but she followed their instructions, smiled and didn't complain. Since then she has done a music video shoot as well as still shots for them and that day she worked 9 hours! She was such a champ. Waking up at 6:30am, getting to location at 7:30am and being the last child to leave at 4:30pm. She made me so proud. The lastest photo shoot Elsa has done was a swimwear shoot at Eastern Beach. Thank goodness it was a sunny clear day with hardly any wind. She worked for 3 hours and had a great time playing on the beach with the other kids, and keeping herself amused between shoots. Finally, as a way to give back to the community, I also volunteer for an organisation called Bellyful North Shore which cooks and delivers free meals to families who have a new baby or are struggling with illness. I am so happy to be able to do this and I help with the cookathons as well as delivering meals. I wished that there was something like this around when I had my kids, so that is why I have decided to join this particular organisation because I truly believe in it and think the service they offer is invaluable.

June already?

Goodness the time flies by. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and then months into years...and it's June already.

Elsa

A lot has happened since my last written blog. A brief summary is that Elsa got her cast removed and plate and pins taken out in January 2011. A huge relief for all of us. She was up and walking by the second day and has just gone in leaps and bounds in terms of her physical development. She's very physical and loves to rough and tumble and is a real climber. Hence the reason for enrolling her into Jumping Beans and now North Harbour Gymnastics. She is a real spit fire and has no problems standing up for herself and defending herself! She definitely hit the terrible two's before she turned two and this year has been quite a challenge as she is just so different to Lucas in terms of behaviour and will full-ness! Today she has moved from cot to a big girls bed so she is definitely growing fast.

Lucas

My little man turned 5 in April and has started school at Bayview Primary School. We couldn't be happier with our choice in school as it has an awesome community feels and Lucas just LOVES school. This has been a huge relief for us as his father hated school from day one as he was told school was "just like Kindy but longer and bigger" so he went into school thinking all you did was play all day. What a rude shock he got and hence, his hate for school from that day forth. So we were very conscientious that Lucas was well prepared for school and his daycare had a huge influence in this. We couldn't thank his daycare enough for the preparation they do with the kids with the lead up to school. Lucas comes home and reads his books and sits down studiously writing and drawing. It's a joy to watch and we are very proud of him.

Elsa is cast free!

Elsa had her cast removed in December and her plate and pins removed in January!

She has been such a trooper for the last 5.5 months and it has been very humbling to see just how well she has adjusted and coped. Far better than any adult would in her situation!

Elsa's hip cast changes

Elsa's third cast change. Blue and a broomstick cast.

Elsa's second cast change. Purple and this was a fiber glass cast so much lighter!

Elsa just after her open hip reduction. She spent 4 days in hospital and was such a trooper.

X-ray of Elsa's hips

X-rays of Elsa's hips showing how high up and dislocated her R hip is

A dislocated hip for Elsa

We found out in mid-June that Elsa has a dislocated right hip and requires hip surgery (known as an open reduction where they will insert a metal plate) and then be in a spica cast for 6-8 weeks. It's never easy for a parent to hear that their child needs surgery but you take in the news, sleep on it and then feel a little bit more prepared for whats to come.

It was first noticed that Elsa had uneven hip creases when she was about 10 months old. I took her to the GP to get it checked out and everything seemed fine, hips weren't clicking and the GP put it down to an extra roll of fat. When Elsa started walking, she would tip toe on her right foot now and then but as the months went on she started to tip toe on her right foot more and more. At 15 months Plunket said to discourage her from tip toeing as they can form a habit doing this but there was no mention about getting her hips checked out again. Then at 18 months something told me to take her back to the GP.

Sure enough the GP found her legs were uneven in length with the right foot being shorter, the uneven hip crease was quite evident and when Elsa walked the GP noticed the tip-toeing. We got sent off for an x-ray the following day and I could tell by looking at it that her right hip was not right. That afternoon we met with an orthopaedic surgeon who examined Elsa and confirmed she did have a dislocated right hip and would require surgery.

We now have a date for Elsa's surgery which is the 28th July and she will have this done at Starship Hospital. I have been reading as much information as I can as well as joined a couple online groups who have had children go through similar surgeries as Elsa and I have been able to ask questions and have my fears laid to rest. I have also met a lovely woman whose daughter had hip surgery at 13 months and it was great to chat with her over a cup of coffee and pick her brains.

We are in this for the long haul as Elsa will not be happy about not being able to move as she's such an active wee thing, but we are determined to keep as much of her life as normal as possible and not let her miss out on thing just because she's in a spica cast. She has no idea what's about to come her way but they do say it's harder for the parents than the patient and I so hope they're right.

Sibling love

Elsa 18 months, Lucas 4 years