Trouble...in little Carter town

The poor little guy just can't get a break (although I probably should rephrase that, as that will be next, I'm sure!)... while his arm now looks like it's fully healed, he's had a fever all week, which peaked at over 38.5 deg. We took him to the Doctor who couldn't work out what it was, and Dad took Thursday off, and Mum took Friday off to look after him.

Yesterday morning he broke out in a rash which was the final clue to identifying his ailment! What we initially thought was related to his entire set of teeth coming down at once (well at the top and bottom front teeth at least), now looks to be baby measles (Roseola). Considering Linc had exactly the same thing happen to him, we expected Carter to start feeling much better once the rash had developed; thankfully we appear to be right, as Carter was much happier today.

But lately things have been a little tougher than usual - the family is still getting used to Mum working (where she worked three out of the four-day Easter long weekend - so we hardly saw her), again with the lack of sleep, dealing with a Lincoln who has an amazing amount of energy (and who is having day-sleeps less and less), and Dad acting as Director for the last couple of weeks.

For some reason we tried taking the kids shopping yesterday as they are in desperate need of new shoes; big mistake, as it was very busy and the kids like shoe shopping as much as Dad does (i.e. not much). Linc's foot is also HUGE, so it's quite hard to find something that fits him for both length and width (see photo!).

Linc requires a size 13 shoe. That's big. Very big.

We had the boy's cousin Lizzy's 2nd birthday party on Monday and Carter threw his typical wobbly on arrival (too many scary people, including Uncle Dave with the beard!) but calmed down when it was time to hunt for eggs! We also had a mega-easter-egg-hunt on our street (with another Carter-wobbly just to make sure everybody knew we had arrived)... and Carter was very interested in the puppy dog that was dying to join in!

The boys hunt for Easter eggs. Carter isn't sure about the man's hairy legs behind him!

Carter attempting to feed the dog yummy Easter eggs. How grown up does he look!

We don't seem to have a decent photo of Carter's new teeth; but I'll endeavour to get one on here ASAP as he looks so different with his pearly whites!

No dummy and a dislocated elbow

Tonight will make it the 6th night since Lincoln last had a dummy! It just happened one night where we gave Linc a teddy bear saying that he could have the 'special' bear if he left his dummy on the bench; he grabbed the teddy bear, and off he went! He did ask for it a couple of times in the next few days, but now doesn't ask for it at all. A huge load off, as we weren't looking forward to the battle of dummy hill.

The dummies look better in the bin than in Linc's gob!

On a sadder note, Linc and Carter were wrestling on Friday night, and things got a bit rough, with Linc wrenching Carter up off the floor by his wrist. We didn't know it at the time, but this action ended up in a mild dislocation of Carter's elbow which was the result of the lower arm (forearm) slipping out of its normal position at the elbow joint. To make matters worse, Mum and Dad didn't work out that there was something wrong with his arm until Saturday afternoon. This was mostly due to the fact that, unless we touched his arm, he wasn't displaying any obvious signs of pain. We only noticed that he wasn't using it at all, and had trouble getting up off the floor. So, on Sunday morning we headed off to the hospital.

Firstly there was the initial exam. He screamed. And then it was off to x-ray. He screamed as the x-rayologist took a number of scans; and then came back for more scans. More screaming. It's worth adding that in the meantime, Dad had tried to get us some coffee as we had gone to the hospital early to avoid the rush and hadn't had our morning coffee (power was out from 7.30am to 9.45am). No luck with the coffee.

Then the doctor called us back in with the results of the x-rays. Carter screamed. No break to the bone, which was good news; however, all signs pointed to a dislocated elbow. Doctor brought another doctor in, who ran us through what he believed the issue was - he also explained what he had to do to fix the problem. It didn't sound pleasant. And it wasn't. Go to YouTube and search for pulled elbow - it shows some poor kid having his dislocated elbow put back in place and gives a good idea of what we (and Carter!) went through. Carter screamed, and screamed and screamed as he wrenched and manipulated his arm, wrist and shoulder to firstly pull the joint out, and locate it where it should've been. After he finished, Carter couldn't move his arm, and was shaking all over. But of course the doctor wanted to see if Carter could move his arm any better than before - with Carter screaming, it was a useless objective. The doctor prescribed some Nurofen, but of course Carter had to be weighed first to ensure the correct dose was given; scream, scream, scream. Then scream and choke and choke as we tried to get 6ml of Nurofen down his gob. The doctor then asked if we could wait around for half an hour to see if his arm improved at all. Mum went to get coffee, but the line was huge. So no coffee, still.

The doctor finally came out to see us again, and as soon as Carter saw him he screamed; it was very difficult to hear what the doctor was telling us as Carter was hysterical. Anyway, the doctor couldn't be sure that he had properly relocated the elbow as there was no click; however, as the injury was on Friday evening, there may have been substantial swelling which would hide the clicking sound.

Anyway, back home after what seemed like hours at the hospital and we finally got to have some coffee. This evening Carter seems to be using his arm a bit more, but it is still obviously very sore, and certainly not back to normal yet.

Carter teething (yes, finally!)

As anyone with sore gums would know, it makes you grumpy - and Carter has been no exception. He also appears to be getting multiple teeth at once (which we thought might happen considering how late it started). So he's had ongoing cold symptoms for about a week and a bit now, and is grumpy a lot more than usual. Once he has teeth though, he will be the happiest Squidge around, as he is a great eater, and will love the wider variety of food he will be able to have once he can chew!

Look closely, and you can see his two upper front teeth starting to break through

Linc is going really well with his toilet adventures; he still won't do no. 2s in the toilet, and demands a nappy for that, but his no. 1s have been fantastic with almost no accidents at all - he even went in a disgusting old portaloo at the airport open day today! Oh, and yes, Mum is working this weekend, and Dad took the boys out to see the aircraft, which (for Dad, and maybe the kids) was a bit daunting without the rock solid backup of the Mum! It went very well though, and we even popped in to Mum's work for five minutes on our way home.

Carter's first haircut and Linc in big boy undies

After taking some brave pills, Mum finally took Carter for a haircut - we were trying to do it when Dad was around, but we refused to pay adult prices for him on a weekend...so it was a weekday or nothing! He of course screamed, but it was over quite quickly as they only trimmed the back of his head and didn't touch the front.  He looks so different though, as the curls have finally gone!

After a couple of weeks of potty use, Linc has progressed to the toilet. Not only that, but for the last week he has been wearing big boy underpants! He still asks for his pull-up nappies to do no. 2s but we're working on that one! He's been really good - whenever he wants to go the loo he just asks - he's even been out to the shops a couple of times and used the toilets there. We are very proud of him.

Have to admit though, that we're going through a lot of stickers; it's his bribe, and works very well. We just bought a Lightning McQueen sticker book with 350 stickers, so we should be set with that!

New car has arrived

A lovely road trip was had (sans kids) to pick up the new family steed. It's beautiful - very European - and feels like a car that's twice as expensive!  Two Fords in the garage.  I can't believe it.  But if Holden offered something as good (from Europe of course) we would've bought it... but there is nothing currently available that offers the blend of style, sophistication, safety, pace and boot space required for the family!

Exciting news for the family

I am so proud of my wife. So proud. I happened to mention a job that was in the newspaper, that looked like something she may be interested in. She decided to apply. She got an interview. She got the job. Not only that, but she was ranked first out of 83 applicants. It's in the public service, in a customer service role, and she starts in March! Well done from all of the family. And a huge thank you to Gran who has agreed to look after the boys two days per week, while Dad will cover every second weekend.

Linc is finally using the potty. The toilet just didn't seem to be working, with him disliking the whole thing immensely. But then, thanks to Huggies, we got a Lightning McQueen potty, and ever so slowly he's using it more and more with stickers as rewards. What started off as a once a day thing is now 4-5 times a day!  He even did no. 2s the other evening, but I think that was as much of a surprise to him as it was to Dad ... Dad!  Borry! I did borries!

Carter is saying a couple of words now, like Peppa (as in Peppa Pig, their absolute favourite TV show at the moment), Mum/Dad, Car, Bubble...and his favourite word whenever there's food around - MORE MORE! He's a great eater, and even finishes his breakfast quicker than Linc.

The boys go through periods of playing well together, then they both have meltdowns, and start snatching toys off each other and screaming. Sometimes it ends in them giving each other a whack, which is kind of funny, but kind of not I guess! Carter is a stubborn kid, and doesn't take kindly to having toys snatched away...or being told what to do in general, actually!

And to some other news - we are sadly trading our 2002 VXII Calais V8 on a 2011 Ford Mondeo Zetec hatch with the 2.0l turbo ecoboost engine and six speed dual clutch auto transmission. It's very safe, with seven airbags, ABS, DSC, EBA. How exciting!

Kiama 2012

We're back! A wonderful trip to Kiama, with beautiful weather, and lots and lots of activities. We went swimming in the pool and the sea, built sand castles (and really enjoyed knocking them down), played at the park, and raced scooters up and down the road like loonies. And the kids even joined in!

We had a very wet drive to Kiama, and chose Jamberoo Mtn Rd rather than Macquarie Pass for something different. The scenery was stunning, but it was very misty! Luckily Dad had just changed the worn out tyres on the Calais for brand new ones on the standard wheels.

The kids were fantastic for the duration of the journey with a single break at the famous Robertson pie shop for some lunch. We arrived to fantastic weather (considering rain was forecast each day of our holiday), and soon after the Richardson's arrived with their three children. By this stage Linc was already roaring up and down the road on his new Scooter (early birthday present!) catching on fairly quickly to the whole scootering thing - he only had a couple of minor spills the entire time!

The next day the Bell's arrived with their two boys. So with 7 kids in tow, the families headed off to enjoy the day, visiting the beach, the rockpools, the playground, and finishing the day off in the park's wonderful pool.

Linc was also lucky enough to have his birthday on the second last day, and we enjoyed a yummy ice cream cake (which melted VERY quickly) with three sparklers! We were so happy that Linc could share the day with so many friends, and be at the coast where he was able to do things he wouldn't normally do back home.

Carter, Linc and Jeremy

The weather continued to treat us very kindly, with one particularly hot day (34 deg) and a couple of milder days, with a brief shower on the second last day, before an absolute deluge on the last day, soaking us all as we frantically packed the cars to head home! Can't wait to do it all again next year!