Daddy's Home!!!

Daddy went to Waiheke fishing over night (a really loooonnnnng time, not) But Nicola missed him. Can't say you don't feel loved when this is the greeting you get when you get home :) So adorable

Valentines Day Surprise

Valentines Day this year was our 19th 'together' anniversary. I was so excited by the present I had bought Scott & few months ago & had been waiting impatiently to give it to him. I got him the personalised plates he has been pining over for ages on the web. The tricky part was the money as all of our accounts are joint how was I gonna withdraw $900 without him knowing? The solution came from the kids bank accounts, I got permission from Daniel to use his money (as long as I pay him back) they are bank accounts we set up ages ago & have been depositing regularly but seldom look at statements, so I was counting on that & Daniel not saying anything when he checked h is balance as he was in on it with me. The actual plates have finally arrived!!! (I hope he isn't expecting anything for our anniversary cos now we are broke! hehe)

Daniel's Sea Cubs in having a great term this term. The other week they went fishing at Half Moon Bay Marina & he caught at least 12 baby snapper & pipers. He threw them all back, he is very much into catch & release. He did so well he even let some kids who weren't doing so well reel in some of his fish. (insert proud mummy icon here).Then they went to Mechanics Bay to visit the Sea Police & the Rescue Helicopter. I went with & it was very interesting. (I even went on the Police Launch!!!! I hate boats but talked myself into it as a once in a lifetime experience)

I had a Stampin' Up! party in the weekend. It was really cool, Nicola helped me & mum ;) I bought heaps!!!! & got even more free!!!! As soon as I got them I had to play. I am pleased with my first grungy LO. Daniel doesn't like it, it is too messy for him, he likes straight & clean like me. I went with 'Spunky' cos that is what I call Scott IRL.

February already!

As you may have noticed I have not been going to well with the photo a day thingy. I have been taking more ordinary photos than usual trying to catch some normal things that we do. I was really upset when they demolished a local landmark building so now I have no reminder of the many hours I spent there as a child, you don't think of buildings changing when you are a kid. So I took a pic of my messy desk at work (must take one of building too). For those of you who saw the pic of the fence fallen over & have voiced their concern, here it is after Scott fixed it. Good as new :)

Anyway school is finally back!! The kids are happy with their new classes & teachers. I bought Nicola the new school uniform dress today, she is very excited & didn't want to take it off. It was expensive but all the rest of her uniform as been hand-me-downs (except the new polar fleece) so overall she has been cheap. I just couldn't stand the state of some of her tops anyone, I hated sending my beautiful baby to school looking like that..... Daniel decided he wanted to be more organised this year, so we made 'mini' pencil cases to fit inside his big pencil case. Red for red pens, blue for blue pens, etc.... Hopefully it works for him, he was very pleased with our results.

The second week of Youth Town went really well too. Nicola made a new best friend & Daniel traded Pokemon on his Nintendo with some of the other kids. The had Laser strike & a trip to West Wave pools also.

Nicola has decided she doesn't want go to Pippins this year, she wants to wait until she is 7 & go straight to Brownies with her friends. Pippins is the same time as the Hip hop dance lessons she wants to go to. I don't mind her skipping Pippins, our one is pretty lame, they only play for an hour a week, no badges or anything.

I went to the Mega Crop at NZScrapbook last weekend. I am making a mini album of our alterations while it is still fresh in my mind & people are still interested in it. I met Louise & her mum there & we had a lovely time with not alot of scrapping done ;) I found a cool new OTP project too, cos I need more UFO's!!! LOL! Here it is coated in gesso & ready to go....

Talking about unfinished projects & the house.....with all the crap weather the other week our house has developed a leak. It is downstairs in the old bit, not the new. The new mdf skirtings have swelled & the new carpet in our bedroom & wardrobe got rather damp (stinky being wool). One of the tiles in the en suite had water coming up through the mortar joints when you stood on it :( So where is all the water coming from?????? Today Scott dug up part of the garden outside the wardrobe. There seems to be no waterproofing or drainage, the dirt is hard up against the bricks. Bricks are not water proof so this could easily be tracking dampness inside, however the dirt that Scott was digging was surprisingly dry for all the rain we have had lately. So we have come to the conclusion that this would cause dampness, but not the amount of water we had coming inside. So now what? Guess we wait till the next down pour & see if we can see anything then. We should still dig down the bricks & fix that, but it is not a nice job, it has to be done by hand, & it is too hot today.

Time flys when u r having fun :)

Wow a year ago tomorrow we were in hospital waiting for Scott's surgery. We were not allowed to go out for our anniversary & they kicked me out at 9pm :( He is all good now. He has lost heaps of weight & has never been fitter or healthier. 14 years ago we were excited about getting married tomorrow. Wow 14 years! So because last year was a bit of a bust we thought we might do something this year. So he got me just what I wanted, something sparkly & shiny......he got himself, I mean I got him, a new computer monitor.

My Pizza LO got declined from UP2 Scrap so I thought I would share it with you instead. The kids love turning the pizza to reveal the pic & remembering that funny day.

National Scrapbooking Day

was yesterday. I didn't get much scrapping done. I am still working on that LO that I had ideas for at work & it is coming along well, but slowly.

Nicola went on a class trip to Motat last week. She had such a great time & was telling me about this big black steam engine when I remembered these pics of Scott & I before we were married. So Nicola took them to school to show everyone how old Motat was! The world's fastest LO for National Scrapbooking day!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Well here we are on the 'other side' of Christmas. The kids had a great day yesterday, but Santa did forget about us adults :-( Yesterday morning started bright & early with the kids ringing Nana & Popa at 6:30 to "hurry up" They did ok, but knew most of there presents cos they had helped us choose. Daniel was most excited about his 'Club Penguin' Igloo & Nicola was excited about getting her own real camera (now she doesn't have to borrow mums) They were also very excited when they saw that Santa bought them a trampoline!!! They both think they heard Santa & his elves building it on Christmas Eve. Then we were off to lunch at Craig & Mel's & more pressies. The highlights for me were the dress mum gave me (that we chose together on Christmas Eve) & the scrapbooking stuff Evan & Hanne brought from their holiday in Sweden, (how cool is that!) So after stuffing ourselves with 3 courses of lunch, we went to Nana & Popa's for 'dinner'!! We were so full but yet we still ate more, lol! My Lemon Meringue Pie went down well, but the kids weren't impressed & only ate strawberries & ice-cream all day.

Another early start this morning (third in a row!!!) & we were off to the boxing day sales for presents for mummy & daddy. The kids got to spend their Xmas money & dad got a new fishing rod, (guess where he is right now). I managed to squeeze in a quick stop at a jewelery store & got myself a half price dress ring, but still haven't found any togs I like :-(

No I still haven't finished the advent calander, it is looking good, but i am getting 'over it'. Yes I know the drawers are upside down. When we took the lollies out & counted that day I didn't know what to do with them so I just put them back in upside down so they didn't get lost or damaged. If I am lucky I might have it finished by next Xmas (don't mention the other 2 I bought for presents,ok). I found some tiny playing cards in a Christmas Cracker & have swiped them for my scrapbooking.

Summer Hockey.....

So have you noticed I have been rather quiet on this subject lately? Well....they have lost the last 2 games! The funny thing is I think the parents are more upset than the kids, lol. They don't seem to mind at all, but us parents are getting frustrated at how uncommitted & unenthusiastic they are. Daniel still want to play every week, but misses having a practise as well as a game. He saved 4 goals (playing goalie) this week, so that was good as we have always been a bit bad on defence. So I told him that Scott had to go to a dinner cos he was nominated for an award the other night & Daniel asked if he would get a medal if he won. I said no, probably nothing but a certificate & shake of the hand. i said the only time adults get medals is in the Olympics & he said that was ok cos he is gonna be in the Black Sticks! What an awesome life goal! I said "go for it!"

Update on Scott. He is back at work full time & has finally figured out the stupid blood machine to check his INR levels at home. He is getting alot more active, but still not really up to kayaking (although he wishes he was!) Thanks for everyone's thoughts and payers through our difficult time.

Paper Symphony Spring Break

Last weekend was the Paper Symphony Spring Break Scrapbooking Retreat. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go. It had been 4 1/2 weeks since Scotts operation & he had a wisdom tooth pulled out on Friday! He was in agony & ended up going to ED for some voltarin on top of his Codine & panadol. He felt much better after that & said I could still go away. Aint he lovely! I really needed the break. The retreat was in Waves Motel in Orewa. I was an hour or so late because we had to wait for the pharmacy to open so Scott could fill his perscription. It was a nice small group of only 8 ladies (including me) & the tables were set up so we could all talk & socialise.

First class was by Melissa on Saturday morning. Here is mine:

I love the ribbon frill & had my first go at using alchol inks on the flowers & butterfly. I also found my Marrakech stickers were the right colour too! We made up some glimmer mist from ink & perfect pearl to spray the Buzz & Bloom corners with. I love the alchol inks, so much fun! I had to get some!!!!!! The picture is of my 'Year 0" class. I drew a cirle with kindy glitz around me cos I don't know anything else about that school, I was not there for long.

I took all the kids school class photos I have lying around cos I have been a bit stumped on how to scrap them, so that was my goal for the weekend. So I didn't do Janines class on Sunday, but took kit home & will upload it when I am done. I am very pleased with getting the kids 2009 school photos done, 1 double LO for Nicola & a single for Daniel. I used my favourite Kaiser Bohemian paper (think I only have 1 or 2 sheets left :-(

Book Week Parade

The kids had Book Week at school last week. On Friday they had to dress up as a character from a book. Daniel went as Aipom from Pokemon & Nicola wanted to go as a Princess cos her class is studying Fairy Tales. She was just gonna wear her party dress, the I got the guilt's about making Daniel's' costume & not hers so I decided to make her a dress. I already had some fabric, I love buying fabric from the specials bin a Spotlight. It took me 2 days to make!! I decided it might have been cheaper to buy her a Disney dress but they were $50-$60!!!!! I made the over skirt out of that cool shimmery fabric they used to make Barbie dresses out of, but I wont be sewing with it again!!!! I would sew a seam on the over locker & it would just pull apart! By the time she came home from school the hem was already pulled off, which was very upsetting to her & me! I also sewed her a new bookbag as hers broke.

Scott has been given the all clear to drive again, yay!!!! So now he has some independence back & is much happier, (so am I!). I am getting to go to the Paper Symphony Retreat this weekend afterall!!!!!!!!!!!! It's only for Saturday night. Dad is taking Scott & Daniel to hockey on Saturday (his last game). Nicola has her best friend Bronte's birthday party on Sunday morning; so the kids wont miss me at all!

I haven't done any scrapbooking for ages. I am still half way through week 3 of the inovations/crafty tart challenge & they have finished week 6! Mybe I will get it done this weekend.

Win some blog candy over at Paper Symphony

Paper Symphony is giving away some nice Buzz & Bloom stuff on their website. I love Buzz & Bloom!! See it here

Well Scott's been home for a week now. There have been good times & not so good. He is still having difficulty getting comfortable for sleeping (I have been taking his sleeping pills!!) He did make it out to sit on the sideline for Daniel's hockey on Saturday, which was nice for Daniel. (of'course they won!) I went back to work on Monday, so poor Scott is home alone without transport bored out of his tree & it's still awhile before he can drive again. We are all much happier now that Daddy is home with us. The kids seem to be completely unaffected by it all.

Oh & Daniel came 13th in his school cross-country. He was very excited & disappointed. He bet the kids he wanted to beat, but missed out on going to inter-school competition by 1 place!

He's coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He has been up & down alot in the last few days, even developing a new pain & irregular heart beat, but he has been cleared to come home lunchtime today!!!!!!!!!!! Now my hard work starts. I have missed him so much I have been neglecting myself & the kids to spend time with him in the hospital. Will keep you posted, right now I have to clean the house & then go to pick him up.

On another topic this is my week 2 entry for the latest Crafty Tart competition. I had to go & take special photos around the house for it, but I am happy with the result. I kept the white background (been a loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnngggg time since I did a white page!), but my photos are colour. I love the way the colours pop out at you. I kept the journalling like the add & also put my title in the same sort of place. So basically i had used it as a sketch for my LO. It is so simple yet so effective. They are currently up to week 4, but I have not even had the chance to think about scrapbooking lately.

Happy Anniversary?

Right now where was I up to?

Saturday. We picked Scott up from Middlemore & he came to watch Daniel's hockey game (they won again!) Then we went to the beach for lunch & some sun. Scott was tired by the time we got him back to the hospital.

Sunday The kids went to their friends houses to play, mum picked them up at 4. I spent the day keeping Scott company in hospital. It is so nice that the kids are happy at mums & I don't have to worry about them.

Monday Scott was supposed to be moved to Auckland Hospital at 10am so I went to work. At 12:30 he was still waiting!!! My boss tried to cheer me up by taking me to one of the building site I had drawn (I don't get to see many finished houses), that was cool. I went straight from work to Auckland hospital to see Scott (yes he finally got transferred). Unfortunately I missed seeing the surgeon. Scott was very upset when I got there & the nurses were worried about him. I could just see them postponing his surgery cos they were concerned about his mental state, so I had to find out what the problem was. It turned out that no-one has ever told us the results of the various tests they have been doing over the last few months, but the surgeon knew. Apparently his aorta was dilated meaning all the research Scott had been doing on mechanical valves was a waste of time cos his condition was now different to what we thought it was. So I told this to the nurse who explained the differences to us in lay mans terms. apparently the surgery is the same, so are the risks, it is just a valve with aortic extension the put in rather than just a valve. So we felt much better after that. They scheduled his surgery for 7:30 am on the Tuesday. But when they kicked me out at 9:30pm it still wasn't definite cos he needed a CT scan to measure the dilation before the surgery & he still hadn't had that. He did get the CT during the night. Oh & it was our wedding anniversary & he had to take his ring off.

Tuesday I went to work to keep my mind off things. They told us surgery was gonna be 4 hours, but it was 8. Apparently it is a bit complicated removing the homograph valve then putting in a new mechanical one. Scott parents & I finally got to see him about 6pm. When I first walked into ICU I was so relieved to see him still alive, we were both so scared, but the longer we were there the more obvious it was that something was wrong. He was still bleeding & they had tried all sorts of clotting agents so they decided to take him back into surgery to see if they could find the problem. It was so scary watching them all run around him not really having any idea what was going on & feeling so helpless. The surgeon sent us home saying he would ring & he did, they fixed it. Mum came home with me to help me put the kids to bed. Then she gave me a sleeping tablet after we got the call from the surgeon.

Wednesday. Mum came over to help get kids off to school, I was still half asleep with my sleeping tablet. Then she took me to hospital to see Scott, I didn't trust myself to drive. Wow! Scott was sitting up & off the ventilator. He was drugged to the eyeballs & kept coming & going from consciousness. He kept asking what day it was. I didn't tell him about the complications from night before, figured he didn't need to know that right now, he just needed to get better. the staff at the hospital were amazing! I was so shattered that I went home after lunch & his dad went to visit him. I picked up the kids from school like a normal day, Nicola & I watched Spongebob while Daniel played on the computer. Mum & dad brought us dinner.

Thursday Visiting hours are 11 till 1 so I went to work for a bit this morning, then went into the hospital. I can't believe how much better he looks, when I said that to him he gave me a filthy look & said he didn't believe me, I guess that was the lack of morphine talking! He is obviously uncomfortable, but in a ward bed & eating a little bit of food. He is still very sleepy. The kids have been asking to see him so I am gonna take them after hockey practice tonight, just for a few minutes.

It's been a long week.

Monday was normal.

Tuesday was Nicola's first class trip, so I got the day off work to go with her as they needed a 1:4 ratio. We walked to the local supermarket bakery. The most exciting part was getting an iceblock! Kids, hehe. Because I had taken the whole day off I decided to spend the afternoon putting my scrapbooking in chronological order. To do this I had to take apart about 6 albums & spend them over lounge floor. I was still doing this when the kids came home from school, & when Scott came home from work & when Scott told me he wanted me to take him to the hospital! Turns out he was having chest pains. So I phoned mum & she came & picked up the kids & I drove him as fast as I could to the Middlemore ED. I dropped him at entrance & went to find a park. He was already in a bed, hooked up to machines by the time I got there. He had blood tests & was on monitors & oxygen & we waited & waited. Scott was feeling heaps better on the oxygen, but they needed to admit him overnight cos they needed to do more tests in 8 hours to compare results. We were so bored waiting we started pretending we were extras on Shortland Street & were guessing which nurses were sleeping with which Doctors etc. Scott was so bored he even let a student Dr ask him questions, etc, apparently Scott is very exciting to student Drs. So eventually I left at 10ish cos I was so exhausted & I still needed to pick up the kids & go home to bed. As soon as I left the ED I started crying, it was so horrible to leave him there. I rang my girlfriend & she calmed me down enough to make it to mu parents. I lost control completely when I saw mum, but felt much better after a good cry. I took the kids home to bed & was asleep myself the moment my head hit the pillow.

Wednesday I sent the kids off to school & then went to the hospital. he had been moved into the short stay department awaiting a ward bed not long after I had left the night before. I seem to be jinxed, when ever I go to the toilet or go for a walk; a dr arrives, he gets moved or something. So they have decided to admit him now until his surgery.

Thursday I went to work, spoke to kids teachers so they know what is going on. i took kids to see him in the evening so they would know daddy is ok. They will not be able to visit him in hospital after his surgery. Nicola thought it was great fun. She made daddy bed go up & down, spoke to the nurses & other patients & weighed herself on the weighing chair (17.6kg) Daniel was reading the Top Gear mag I got for Scott, so he was fine too.

Friday. Scott rang this morning, he hadn't had a good night with his room-mate dying. So I took day off work again to spend some time with him. I was even there when cardiologist visited (woohoo). Hopefully he will be having surgery on Tuesday, so will be moving to Auckland hospital on Monday. My girlfriend picked the kids up from school this afternoon & I had a nap.

Tomorrow they are letting him out of hospital for a couple of hours to watch Daniels hockey game, which will be so nice cos it is the last one he will be able to attend. It is funny little things I am noticing while he isn't here. Like I had to do rubbish this morning & I don't know how to pay the bills, etc.

So that is my week & I am exhausted.

........sooooooo.........

I don't know what to say so I haven't said anything, but I will try. It all started 36 1/2 years ago when my wonderful husband was born with a damaged aortic valve. It was replaced not long after I met him when he was 17. So the other day Scott had an angiogram to find out why he has not been my normal self lately. It turns out his arteries are fine, but his aortic valve is now severely constricted. It was really hard to watch my man in pain & I couldn't do anything to help him. I have always known in the back of my head this day was gonna come, but that was a dose of reality. The typical life of a human graft is 10-15 years, and his has lasted 19. So I always knew he was gonna need another operation. I was always paranoid he would need it while I was trying to birth one of the kids. It is not a hereditary condition, however I got both the kids checked at birth & Daniel had an ECG a couple of months ago, so they are fine. I didn't see him after his first operation, so don't really know what to expect. I am worried about funny things like the fact that kids aren't even allowed in the cardio part of the hospital. So what do I do with the kids? They will want to see their father, but do we want them to see him? How sick is he gonna be afterwards? How much time do I need to take off work? When is he gonna be able to drive again? What about his fishing? How am I gonna keep him from going mentally insane inside these four walls for a couple of months, (there is only so much TV you can watch). So it has been 10 days since his aniogram & we haven't even heard the official results yet, just what the nurses told him. I am going insane with all this waiting!!!! They said it was bad so he should be getting another replacement operation, probably sometime in the next 3 months. So that's good I guess, he will be on the road to recovery by Christmas.

YAY!

Ok, well, things have been interesting with Daniel over the last year or so. We finally have a diagnosis - ADD (not ADHD!!!). This is such a relief & he will be starting on an extremely low dose of Ritalin on the weekend (so low we have to order it specially!) For those of you who don't know ADD is Attention Deficit Disorder (no Hyper). It has been interesting to learn that he sees & hears the world differently to the rest of us; for instance when trying to write he may become distracted by the sound of the pen scratching on the paper rather than what he is supposed to be writing. Anyway before the hospital will give him Ritalin they gave him an ECG (heart test thing) as the most serious side effect is only if you have an existing heart condition. Daniel thought the test was hilarious & kept giggling so the nurse had to do it a couple of times, she said kids usually scream at her so she didn't mind the giggling. He also has an extra large space between his pallet & the back of his throat which allows more air than necessary though which is why his speech is 'nasal'. I don't think we are going to go ahead with surgery to get it fixed as it is not that bad & the speech therapy has greatly improved his speech. He is also slightly obsessive (not OCD), but so am I!!!!

We had 3-way - conference with his NEW teacher on Friday (yes, I am one of those mothers who kicked up a stink at the school & got my son moved classes). It went really well, she is happy with him. She can see that he is trying to work & not finishing; rather than the other teacher who just got mad at him for never finishing anything. He is really happy in his new class & likes his teacher so phew!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She hasn't noticed the ADD yet, but it is early in the year, but has noticed him staring into space, but thought he was thinking. LOL! He is still doing really well academically & luckily he is a happy kid so he was never bothered by the ADD, the speech issue was holding him back, but that seems to be fixed now.

Poor kid I feel so sorry for him with all this stuff sometimes, that is when I don't wanna kill him cos I can't get him to do anything!!!!!!!!!!!!! hehe

On a lighter note........Nicola had her best friend Bronte stay the night on Saturday. They think they are twins,who have different parents & live in different houses, but they are still twins! LOL. I was really worried about her cos it was the first time she was staying at someone elses house, so I slept sooooooo lightly listening for any sound. she did wake up crying once, but went straight back to sleep after a quick cuddle. Funny how I sleep through my own kids crying but not someone elses.

Scott went fishing on Saturday, then took Daniel for a ride in the kayak. The girls were to chicken so they collected shells & had a great time running around in their undies.

I felt like doing something different in my scrapbooking, so I have done 2 LO of Scott & I pre-kids. On the Gecko LO I used texture paste through a stencil to make the geckos on patterned paper. Very cool. On the weekend LO I used transparent micro beads over Jac paper to make the flower centres, on the brackets & on the heart. Orange & green is soooooooooo not me, but think it looks quite good.