And Now A Word From The Holy Land

From Becca:

Mum had texted Baba to go on MSN so I could talk to her, but Dyeda came on so quickly I didn't know if they got it or if it was a co-incidence that he came on at the same time.

Becca: Hey!
Dyeda: hi it is deda
Becca: Is this both you and baba?
Dyeda: baba looking now bold and ....
Becca: haha
Dyeda: me to xaxa, cant helpet
Becca: deda go ask baba if she got mama's text message.
Dyeda: tell me how it was last day
Becca: It was good we saw grisha and kids
Dyeda: How they are
Becca: the girls are gorgeous
Dyeda: baba read your block but no any other messages
Becca: I am just about to write a new blog about yesterday now
Dyeda: good
Becca: go tell baba to check her mobile if she got a text...but you dont touch because you dont know how to read the text
Dyeda: and we now how you get last day by reading blogs
Becca: sigh... deda just do as you are told, go and tell baba to check her phone because mama sent her a text..
Dyeda: I talk to baba, she open phone and show me message: GO AND CHECK MSN, REBECCA IS ON LINE
Becca: okay so is that why you came online
Dyeda: i have phone on my hands, yes
Becca: okay thats good
Dyeda: now I have skipe nose

I tried and tried but to no effect, I could not establish what a skipe nose is...
____________

Completely unedited.. I swear..

Bon Voyage!

My sister and niece are off on a big month long vacation today. They will be visiting Israel and England.

We hope they have a lovely time and will miss them heaps.

Dont worry, we will make sure the cat enjoys midnight strolls in the neighborhood and the Tivo is shut down for the month ;-)

Mwahahahaha!

Uh Oh. Another Hill Roadtrip!

We are on the road back from Wyong where we and Roman, Helen and Stacey went to a place called Amazement.

It was great and the girls had an awesome time. They had mazes and games and animals and great big board games.

Going through the mazes was great fun, pretending to be lost, but I think the girls enjoyed the animals the most. They held bunnies and ducklings and guinea pigs.

We are now on our way to dinner at Ramsgate, completely exhausted but satisfied.

Photos to follow.

Mobile Blogging from here.

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Weirdest Dream Ever

I had a dream last night night that my sister was making dinner. She had a large pot on the stove and in the pot was a huge fish. The fish was descaled, covered in some kind of batter and was boiling in the pot. The only problem with this was that the fish was still alive and breathing and looking forlornly at me.

I was incensed. I couldn't believe that Vika was being so cruel!

I asked her why she was being so cruel to the fish, and she said she was making sushimi, so the fish had to be alive.

I was just horrified and began yelling at her that she must kill the fish to stop it's suffering, so she took a large BBQ fork and stabbed the fish in the stomach.

I think the fish died after that but I can't be sure cause I can't remember any more of the dream.

This whole thing stems from guilt I think.

On Friday, one of the girls at work got an aquarium and a Siamese Fighting Fish for her birthday, which she put on her desk. We got a mirror and put it in front of the bowl and made the fish think it was facing another Siamese Fighting Fish, just to see it puff up. Deep down I think I knew I was being a bit cruel to the fish, and finding it a bit funny.

So while I think it was really ME cooking the big fish alive, Vika, please don't cook fish for dinner for a while ;-)

Third Tooth Loss !

Many months after the last lost tooth, Josie has now lost her third. Its her top right tooth and it came out last night at a dinner at Baba's place. Auntie Vika had a hand in it:

I came in and Rebecca said to Josie to show me her tooth and how wobbly it was.

She skipped over and moved it with her finger. The tooth was almost out as I could see half of the root already detached from the gum and the tooth hanging by few threads. She was playing with it all the time so it was just a matter of minutes before it came out.

I told her it would be easy if she did it herself and just pressed on the tooth inwards and it would just pop out.

The answer was no.

I then asked her if she wanted me to take it out, and at first she said no, but I could see she was not afraid and wanted it to come out, but afraid to do it herself. So I called her over and said let me see again. She let me. So I just took it into my two fingers, pulled it down and it was over in 2 seconds. It started to bleed, we ran to bathroom, she washed her mouth with cold water for 2 min and that was it.


The excitement was pulsating out of her she was absolutely ecstatic, running all over. I sent her to look at herself in the mirror, she looked so cute with front tooth missing. I asked her if it hurt and she said nope.

Apparently multiple Tooth Fairies arrived immediately – special case for a special girl and she got 4 gold coins.

We put the tooth and coins in a plastic bag for safe keeping and decided that she would not tell mum and dad what happened and will wait until they had arrived. She would just start talking and see if they notice.

Lucky she did not have to bubble over for too long and first mum and then dad arrived and of course both noticed straight away with appropriate amount of excitement. Huge day for Josie!!

So there we have it. My big 6 year old has lost her third tooth! Thank god it didn't come out at school. I was having nightmares that she would lose it ;-)

On the street!

Hear 'ye, hear 'ye. I am blogging from the car en route to Mat's!

Josie & The Teether 2003

We were going through some old home videos and came across this one..
we laughed through the whole thing..

Update on Harry

Just an update on the Harry situation:

Bec: So Josie how is Harry going?

Josie: He's good.

Bec: Have you told him you like him yet?

Josie: hmm... no. You see I love Harry but Harry loves May, but Harry also loves me too.

These are complicated matters in the first grade..

Josie-isms

Vika & Becca brought Josie home from Baba's tonight, bursting with Josie-isms.

Becca was sitting in the car and telling Josie how Miriam has a boyfriend and that its so cute.

Josie: I also have a new boyfriend!
Becca: What about Beck? (old boyfriend from her old school)
Josie: Yeh Becks my boyfriend from my old school but I have a new boyfriend at my new school.
Becca: So whats his name?
Josie: His name is Harry.
Becca: So tell me about him.
Josie: Oh he's so annoying cause he keeps poking me with his pencil.. but I like it.
Becca: So whats gonna happen with Beck?
Josie: You know, he really doesn't like me hugging him, but I'm so in love with both of them!
Becca: Are you gonna tell Harry that you like him?
Josie: Oh god no, I'm just in love with him!

At Baba's Becca & Josie had a big discussion about who Josie loves and what level of love she reserves for Becca. Then in the car on the way home:
Becca: Tell Vika how much you love me.
Josie: I love you lots.
Vika: What about me?
Josie: Oh! I know the order of who I love now! Ok so first there's my parents, then my cousins (with Becca at the top), then there's the grandmas and the grandpas, then the uncles... and then the Vikas.
Vika: How many Vika's are there?
Josie: Just one!

And then..

Josie was really, really good on the way home with Becca and Becca told Vika that if she was good for Baba that she would get a black chip (reward system we use). Vika took Becca to Kumon, and Vika and Josie waited at Baba's while Vika kept an eye on Josie's behaviour.

Josie was watching one of her DVDs and was fully engrossed in the show, to the extent that she couldn't hear anything anyone said to her. Baba was trying to get her attention.

Baba: Josie.. Josie.. Josephine.. ? JOSIE!!! etc..

.. No reaction.

Vika: Josephine? Are you having hearing problems?
Josie: What?!!?
Vika: Baba is talking to you!

.. conversation with Baba ensues. 5 mins later, same scenario.

Then on the way home with Becca, Becca asked how she behaved and does she deserve a black chip.

Vika: Yeh, hmm I suppose..
Becca: Why? What happened? Josie, was there bad behaviour?
Josie: Well, you see, my ears.. they don't work properly.. and the Tv.. and it was just too loud.. and my ears just didnt work..
Becca: Josie! Seriously! Spit it out!
Josie: Ok. Well, you see, the problem is that my ears dont really work properly when the Tv is on because I cant really hear 2 things at once and the Tv is so loud and I cant hear and I have to tell Daddy about my ears.
Vika: Yeh its a big problem. You might have to go to the hospital and have an operation.
Josie (rolling her eyes): No.. dont be silly.. ill just turn it down!

Once they got here, we dumped Josie into the shower, when we heard: Daddy! Daddy!

Daddy sends Becca to go check.

Becca finds Josie sitting in the bath pointing to her ankle.
Josie: Look, I boompsed my foot bone!

And thats the end of the Josie-isms for today ;-)

Happy Anniversary 2009!!!!

Another year has passed and again I find myself reflecting on the past year and the past, now 16, years of marriage to my other half, my soul-mate, the other side of my coin; head to my tails.

It's fair to say we've neither of us made it easy on the other a fair amount of the time but I'd not have it any other way. There is no other soul on this or any other planet that can be who she is to me, can occupy the space-time that she does, the sub-net of neural pathways that specify not a perfect match but an actual part of myself that must be found outside the self and which she embodies. When I say "I" I mean "we".

I had a dream a few years ago that I was young again, and deeply in love with a beautiful young lady.
And when I woke up and realized it had been only a dream I felt a profound sense of loss; it had felt so real. I felt the tiniest inkling of bereavement. And I was depressed for days afterward.

When I finally came out of my funk I found that details of the dream had faded and were lost. And amongst the fragments I had lost was the face of the young lady. I felt that I knew her from somewhere in real life; an actress, perhaps a childhood crush - I couldn't remember.
Time passed and the memory haunted me less until finally I forgot about it altogether.

Late last year Mari started scanning old photos given to her by all parts of her extended family. And 3 weeks ago she showed me a picture that shot like lightning to my heart and squeezed. I was almost driven to the floor with the power of it. But for the photograph I knew to be the cause I would have thought I must be having a heart attack.

She had found the young lady.
In an old photograph in an old photo album that had lain forgotten in the bottom of a packing box in our shed.
It was Mari.

I knew it was so immediately.
The only image I had left of the dream was a vision of the young lady smiling at me with love; a vaguely familiar room in the background. The room in the background of this photograph.

16 years is a long time. And people change a lot in such timeframes. And in other ways they change very little. And in both ways is the strength of love tested and strained. And the fierce, sharp feeling of those first few days, weeks and months becomes a memory. Replaced by a distant echo of the original.

When my subconscious sought to feel once again the fire of the first passion, it brought my Mari back to me from the distant past and reminded me of the girl who drove all thoughts of others from me. Burned them out with a searing flame until there was nothing left inside but a vision of her, etched on the walls of my mind. Emblazoned on my retinae, ever after I saw only her.

It is for this reason that no matter the row, no matter the problem, no matter the sting of harsh words, I cannot hold onto anger. I cannot hold onto anything but the love I feel. All else slips, silky, through my fingers like smoke and is blown away. Blown away by the solar wind of the sun she ignited in my chest those many years ago.

I can but pray nightly that the same is so for her.
Because I am not easy to live with.

Happy Anniversary Baby. I Love You.

iPhone Contacts Sync Epic FAIL!

So I set my iPhone to sync contacts and it asks me "Do you want to sync your gmail contacts list?". So I say "awesome YE-ES!" and away it goes.

The next time I need to ring someone I open up the contacts list and HOLY BAT..er...POO BATMAN!(tm) there are 600+ contacts in my list. What the hell?!

Turns out it creates a new contact for every email address found in the gMail contacts list. And since every email address you ever send to or receive from is entered into your contacts list in gMail this is a phenomenally bad idea. This was The Little Fail.

So I lived with it for a few weeks and then a couple days ago finally put in the time (45mins!) to delete all the crap. And then just now I went to email someone in gMail and typed in the first few letters of their address and waited for the auto-completion to do it's thing. And then I waited some more. And some more. And then I started to panic. And then I absolutely flipped out!

When I sync'd my iphone this morning it went back to gmail and removed all the stuff I removed from the phone!!!! Now I know, I know; that's what "sync" means stoopid. Yes, yes it does. However in my defense usually when an ipod talks about sync it is talking about between itself and iTunes. I had assumed (I know, again; ass...me...yeah) it would download th econtacts from gmail and store them in iTunes and then sync between the iphone and iTunes!

This sux. *8'(

Disaster Averted: iPod Nearly Lost At Sea!

So most of the time I walk around the house with my iPhone headphones snaking from the iPod in my back pocket up my back under my shirt, out the back of my collar and into one ear.

Well earlier today I went to the loo to perform some 'routine maintenance' and I walk in, turn around... do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight... sorry where was I? Oh right, so I turn around and drop trow and my spider-sense kicks in suddenly; something doesn't feel right. A horrifying thought occurs to me and I turn around very carefully and my worst fears (of the moment at least) are confirmed as I behold the dry-mouth inducing sight of my 'pod dangling precariously from it's earphone cable over the bowl!

As the opening scenes of Cliffhanger race through my mind, I VERY carefully reach forth, and with the concentration of a neurosurgeon, enclose it once more in the safety of it's masters hand.

After reeling it in I was so shaken I had to sit down for a moment, which I was going to do for longer in the first place so that part worked out well.

Be careful people. Do YOU know where your iPod is right now?

Mr Mom

Mari had a seminar in the city yesterday and today she is sick.
So I've been in charge of the child from first thing in the morning for two days.
And for the second day in a row we (the child and I) were late for school.

Tony: C'mon sweetie out of the car quick we're running late!
Josie: We have to get a late note.
Tony: Did your teacher tell you yesterday?
Josie: Yeah. I didn't know where to get it then but I know now. You have to go to the office. And I want YOU to come with me!
Tony: *Sheepish* yes dear.

I've never actually seen Mari hand the jar she keeps my testicles in to Josie as they tag out in the morning but it must happen.

Incidentally at 6 years of age children do not see the late note process as a negative, deterrent-type experience. Josie is so excited to go to the office to get her late note I fear we may need to go to the office via the toilets before she pees her pants. And once acquired holds it clutched, triumphantly in her little fist and waves it about like a trophy.
Josie: IIII have a late noooote! Yeeeesssss! *in her best Bea Arthur voice*

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So we go to the office and I tell the nice lady that we need a late note.

She stops smiling. Obviously I've committed a terrible crime against humanity.

She regains her composure, looks at her watch and seems to need to revise reality so that this crime has, in fact, not been perpetrated on her watch.

Lady: They usually give you a couple of minutes.... but if they've read the roll already... you better get one.

She seems defeated by the facts and unable to complete her attempt to alter reality so that we are not, in fact, 5 minutes late for class. She then proceeds to point out all the places on the small form where not only is it clear that I have to fill something in but it is labeled clearly with what I have to fill that particular space with.

Lady: Put her name here. *in the underlined space with "NAME" under it.
Lady: Date here. *in the space with the unmistakable date-separator slashes*
etc etc etc
Lady: You can put a reason for being late here if you want, it's not mandatory.

So I begin filling in the form and two fields in, and in the midst of an internal monologue mocking the lady for pointing out all the obvious fields, I am stumped for the date. So I ask the child (as you do when your most constant companion is a little person who seems more like an 80year old curmudgeon - like George Burns basically - than a 6 year old girl). Who, of course, has no idea. Another nice lady in the office looks at me like I'm a mental defective.

Lady #2: What did you need to know? *she didn't hear the question, but she knows by the familiar pattern of sound that one of the idiot parents has asked their child for some actual information that needs to approach correct, and that the child has answered in the inevitable and distinctive sound pattern identifiable from 100 yards as "Idontknow?!"*

And then proceeds to give me yesterdays date, which I don't discover until I get to work 30mins later. So I continue filling out the form.

Name: Josephine Hill
Date: 10/2/2009
Class: *classified*
Reason my son/daughter is late: Mummy is sick and Daddy is hopeless.

Hill Xmas & New Year Wrap Up Plus Mega Update

Us at The Eiger

I really should not have left it this long to blog cause my world famous memory is growing fuzzy ;-)

Knowing my world famous memory, I enlisted my niece Becca to do some of the work for me ;-)
______

24th&25th- Xmas Lights, Sleepover and Trudy's
On Christmas Eve, Mari, Tony, Josie, Rach and I went on our annual Christmas Lights inspection, doing our usual Eastern Suburbs swoop. They did not disappoint this year, the display was spectacular and we even managed to catch some illegal firework action in one place.

The girls had an amazing time "ohhing" and "ahhing" at all the pretty bright lights. The one particular house we make a stop at every year, with the Luna Park display, was just as beautiful as ever. Unfortunately 2008 was their last year putting up the lights as it is an elderly couple who own the house and cant manage putting it up anymore. Josie particularly enjoys this house because she has been coming to see it every year for the last 4-5 years, and while she isn't so impressed by the lights anymore she still gets a kick out of the bubble machine and the ice cream truck parked out side of the house.

The girls managed to stay awake until around 10:30 before their eyelids wouldn't stay open any longer. Mari, Tony and I drove around for another hour before calling it quits and driving home.

Last year Mari and Tony had been going through a Tetris obsession phase and had even bought it on the Wii. Mari was set on getting me into it so she could play it over the Wii with me and made me stay up for another hour watching them play Tetris, even though I was asleep half the time, only being awoken by their random outbursts of "Silence, I kill you!".

The next morning I went with the Hills to Trudy's place for Xmas lunch, it was beautiful. The food was magnificent and I was very grateful to have been invited. After lunch, everybody opened gifts, one particular gift that stood out was Mat and Wendy's present to Mari: "Twilight: the complete and illustrated movie companion". I was very jealous as I had wanted this also but it was sold out, not just in every store but from the warehouse too! It is currently on my bedside table, where I am taking my time reading and enjoying it before I have to return it to Mari ;).

After the gifts, everyone played Singstar ABBA & Disney, which was a great hit! All in all Christmas 2008 was excellent.
______

Thanks Becca for putting the time in to write this up.

Now to the rest of it.

On the 26th, we had our Boxing Day at Mat's with David, Jacqui, Philip, Trudy, Carol & Gloria. Lunch was magnificent as usual and Josie even got to make cookies with the awesome cookie making set that Mat & Wendy got her.

On the 27th we had our New Years get together at my parents place where we had the entire family over, 30+ people!! It was very crowded. Food was awesome as usual and it was good seeing the cousins who we never see much (Rach, Zac, Ian, Daniel *POKE*). Ian (being the oldest) played Santa and gave out all the presents to the kids. They had a ball and Josie got very spoilt.

On the 28th, we went and saw Madagascar 2 again. Tony hadn't seen it the first time and Josie loved it. I am keen on taking her to the movies a lot. She has this irrational fear of the movies and we really need to get her over that. We also saw Bolt a few days after that. Bolt was an awesome movie. We all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tony & Gloria at The Eiger

We also had a couple of cleaning days where Tony and I spent many hours cleaning out Josie's room and the living room. We managed to get together 6 garbage bags, yes SIX, of old toys, to give to charity. I felt so good afterwards! And her room suddenly looked so much neater!

On New Years Eve we went to Mat's. This has become kind of a tradition now. Mat cooks, we eat, Davo throws Josie around.. its tradition..

After we had dinner, Tony spent an hour trying to get his trial contacts into his eyes, then he gave up cause we had to go to Easties to watch the 9pm fireworks from the rooftop.

The fireworks were great, but too short! We came back to Mat's after only about 20 mins, and managed to enjoy the Coogee fireworks from Mat's window a whole lot more. Those went for almost 30 mins!

At some point during the night, Mat put on this wierd asian cooking show where they showed this competition where these people had to speed cook this huge fish so that it's body was cooked but it's head was still breathing. It was SO wrong. I have NEVER seen anything like it. They stuck the poor fish's tail into the boiling oil up to its neck. They then quickly pulled it out and plopped it on a platter, and the body was all deep friend and the head was still moving as it opened its mouth to breathe in and out. It was awful! They did the same thing with a snake. The chopped it up and cooked it so fast that when they put it on the plate, the chopped up parts were still slithering!! *SHUDDER*

Jan 4th, we had dinner at Vika's and Vika made a mountain of BBQ Octopus and a HUGE pot of crabs. OMG it was good. We sat there for HOURS fiddling with the crab. HOURS. MMmmmmm!!!!

Vika & Becca at The Eiger

I went back to work on the 5th, and to be honest, it was a relief. It was good to get my mind working again, and the air conditioning was niiiice. Have I mentioned yet how hot it has been? No? I'll get to it..

The next few weeks consisted of us ferrying Josie from one Grandmother to the other. She slept over one night each week at one, then the other grandmother's, and the rest of the days stayed with Baba or Granny or Becca, as well as one day of vacation camp per week. She wasn't really impressed with the Vacation Camp.. mainly I think cause Rachel wasnt there and she didnt know anyone but we encouraged her to make new friends.. she would have to do that anyway once she started school there.

Josie, Dyeda & Baba at the Eiger

On Jan 20th, we celebrated Josie's 6th birthday by going over to Baba's for dinner. She got spoilt once again, but on the plus side, it marked the day when a big change took effect. She was no longer to have big girl sleeps (where daddy or I sat in the room while she fell asleep). She would be going to sleep by herself every night now (which she has done successfully). We have had some whinging, calling and constant excuses to get up, but we're getting there ;-)

On Australia Day we went over to Vika's for another Octopus & Crab dinner. Once again it was DELISH!

On the 26th, we went to Trudy's to celebrate Philip's 16th and Josie's 6th. Again, the food was awesome and the kids had a great time.

This brings us to the start of school. On the 28th, Tony & I both took Josie for her first day at her new school. She was nervous. We were nervous-er. She took it much better than we I did. They put into classes, sitting on the ground, but of course Josie didn't have a class so one of the teachers took her hand and led her over to her class. Josie sat down and listened to the Principal give a little speech and then they all got up and got led away to their classroom. Josie looked a bit forlorn but bravely went off.

I had a bit of a cry.

That Sunday was a busy one. We had Stacey's birthday party in the morning, which was heaps of fun. And the weather wasn't too hot, so that was a bonus.

Afterwards we had lunch at Coogee with Mirna & Rob, Granny, and Kylie who is visiting from Scotland. It was hot hot hot! Lunch was lovely, and catching up with Kye was great! Afterwards we went for a walk along the beach where Josie just *HAD* to get into the sand, much to my horror.
This brings us to February. Dinner at Mums on the 6th for Vika's birthday was nice. Great food as always, and air conditioning. It just can't be bad ;-)

Which brings us to this weekend's horror bushfires in Victoria. You will have heard, and if you haven't, you have been living under a rock, like my husband!

I remember the 2001 fires in Helensburgh, and they were not as bad as this. 131 dead so far.. its just so heartbreaking. If you can, go donate some blood. I wish I could, but I only donated for the first time ever about 2 weeks ago and you can only do it every 3 months or so. Otherwise I would be right there.

So on Sunday we had lunch at The Eiger Swiss Restaurant. As usual the food was divine.

Swiss Barley Soup

Chicken Schnitzel with Spaetzele & Roesti

Grand Manier Ice Cream with cream

Chocolate Fondue

And the after effects of the Chocolate Fondue.. This is Chocolate Fondue Art by Becca.

Mat & Kaylee at the Eiger

Which brings us to today. Today was my first day as Team Leader at work. My team consists of 5 people, and I have to say, today was not much different from last week ;-) But I am very excited to have this opportunity and I am *STILL*, after 2 years, loving my job.

On a completely different note.. this is a Dragonfruit. My first one. It was delish, and oh so pretty!

And thats about it folks. I have uploaded a heap of photos lately at Flickr, so do check them out. And I have finally succumbed to the dark side that is Twitter (find me as charis1974). I tried it out in 2007, but got bored very quickly. I am hoping its better now..


Till next time!

Josie's Faux 6th Birthday & Mega Update

I know, I know! Its been ages!

Everyone and their mother has complained.

I'm updating, I'm updating!

So whats been happening.. lets work backwards..

I started my Xmas leave today so Josie & Becca and I went and saw Madagascar 2 this morning. The movie was awesome! Then I had to do some shopping so I dragged Josie around the shopping centre. She drove me absolutely crazy with the "I want that.." and "Can I have that??" and "I wanna push the trolley!!" and "Don't touch the trolley!!". ARGH!

The rest of the day was spent playing Wii, and Rummikub and watching cartoons ;-)

Yesterday was a very relaxing day for me. Josie went off to a birthday party in the morning, and then Tony took her to Granny's so that he could put up the new trampoline there. He didn't finish, but I had a great day sending thank you emails and editing photos and catching up on the Tivo.

Josie had her 6th birthday party on Saturday. We had a 'Magical Jester' who was a great hit with both child and adult alike. The kids ran riot, played on the park equipment, and were generally rowdy.


The cake was great, much better than last years!

After the party we went to Vika's for present opening and a sumptuous crab & octopus dinner. It was absolutely awesome! The present opening was lots of fun and Josie got a bunch of excellent presents.

Friday was an interesting day.

To adequately explain Friday, we must go back a week. Tony went to a regular eye check up last Saturday. As part of the routine tests, they discovered some discolouration on the back of one eyeball. After some furtive looks by the optometrists, and a strong suggestion he go see a retinal specialist, and soon, Tony was reduced to a freaked-out puddle of stress. Especially since it was on the same side of the face as the skin cancer that was removed several months ago.

That was Saturday.

Appointment was made for Friday with a top of the line, mega special retinal specialist on Macquarie St. (Ooooer Macquarie St apparently!)

Meanwhile.. Tony decided the internet was the place to alleviate his worries..

By Tuesday Mr Freaked-Out was near catatonic, so we went and saw Dr George the family doctor hoping for a prescription for Valium. Dr George delivered Tony. Dr George knows the family inside and out. Dr George refused to prescribe Valium and insisted Tony should take some Zyrtec. Uh huh.

While there we showed Dr George the retinal scans and Dr George scoffed at the C word and said it was definitely a vascular kind of thing. This made us feel heaps better! Well me anyway, Tony wasn't gonna feel any better till he saw Dr Macquarie St.

The week passed in a sludge of worry and sleepless nights.

Friday morning was a relief when it rolled around. The appt was at 7:40am. Yes, that's in the morning, folks. We had to wake up at 6am. That in itself was stressful enough.

So after finding parking right next to the Retinal Centre on Macquarie St in a parking station that charged $28 for the first hour, assuring ourselves we would only be about an hour and then choking a bit over the price.. we headed inside.

After getting more and more stressed over the waiting time, and watching the parking fees roll by, we finally went in to do the initial eye tests and have the drops to dilate the pupil. The lady doing the tests asked some questions about why we were there (couldn't she read the referral note??) and Tony told her about Dr George's thoughts about the shadow being vascular. She wrote it all down.

Then he got the drops and we went back out to the waiting room to wait for the pupils to dilate.

By this time, I was resigned to the amount of money we would be spending on parking that day. You can't put a price on health.. You can't put a price on health..

After what seemed like an eternity (and meanwhile noticing that Tony's right pupil dilated kind of funny.. sort of droopy in shape) we finally went into the room with the big machinery.

They took photos of his eyes, and scans, and then put dye in, and took more photos and more scans.. and at certain points Dr Macquarie St graced us with his presence, chewed out the assistants for not taking the right kind of shots, the shots being off centre or fuzzy etc, and then withdrew again.

Finally he came in and had a good look at the pictures, and asked about the referral (to which the assistant replied that he had only read the other lady's report and not the referral, which he got chewed out about as well).

Dr Macquarie St picked up the report and scoffed "What's this vasculitis stuff?? Pff! What you have is a small tumor on the eye".

Huh?! What did he say?!

I must have looked like I was going to pass out because he came over to me to see if I was ok.. Meanwhile Tony looked like he was about to pass out himself.

Doctors seem to always insist on using words that are very likely to scare their patients half to death.

After making sure that I was ok, he went on to say that the tumor was very small and at this stage we don't know if it was benign or.. not. We needed to do more tests and then we will be able to tell whats what.. in about 10 minutes.

So we waited around, and got the very good news that the discolouration is just a freckle and we would just need to monitor it in 6 months for any growth.

So after paying for our $660 freckle, retrieving our $65 parked car, we finally made it to work around lunch time, a lot less stressed (surprisingly) than we were on Thursday.

So that was Friday..

Nothing much happened through the week (mostly due to the stress), but on Monday was Josie's Kindy graduation presentation where she performed in the choir and received her graduation certificate. It was very cute, and also very sad.

We have told her that she will be going to a new school next year, and while she took it a lot better than we had anticipated, we're not there yet. That first month is still looking a bit scary.

But we have her uniform, and she has been going to the After School Care at the new school, so she knows her surroundings now, but it is still very sad to be leaving her current school, where she has been through 2 years of pre-school and a year of Kindy.

We have also started Josie on Violin lessons with her cousin Jacqui who started Violin herself when she was Josie's age. We bought her a 1/4 violin and she just loves her lessons.

That brings us back to last Sunday when we spent most of the day at Grandma Trudy's doing some massive gardening in her backyard. Well Tony & David did most of the work, with help from Carol, Philip, Jacqui and myself.

We managed to clear out a mountain of green, and unearth one very large Mummy Redback Spider & her flock.

Surprisingly, Tony didn't freak out! He just sent Carol for the spider spray ;-) Mrs Redback didn't stand a chance.

And that brings us back to Saturday again. Saturday night Vika, Becca, Tony & I went to see Twilight at Greater Union Gold Class. It. Was. So. Good.

So good.

Not as good as the books. Obviously. But good enough! And now they are making the 2nd book into a movie (New Moon) !! A.W.E.S.O.M.E !

And thats about it. I'm not gonna go further than a week cause.. well.. this is long enough ;-) I'd be surprised if you're still reading at this point.

So I think the next update will now be next year.

Have a great Xmas/Channukah/New Year !

And now..

Introducing Miss Kaylee Michelle Kwok Yee Hill..






Could you just eat her!?

Go Obama!

.. 'nuff said..

Welcome Kaylee Michelle Kwok Yee!

Well I am an Aunty for the second time. HUGE congrats to Mat & Wendy!

SMS's recorded for posterity (the black is Mat, the red is me)..

29/10/08 2:56:02 - Waters broken. At the hospital getting checked out. No labour yet.
29/10/08 11:51:59 - No labour yet. Ob/gyn's just been in. Wendy's got until tomorrow morning to go into labour and then they'll start talking to us about inducing.
29/10/08 19:43:11 - Just to clarify, if Wendy should go into labour at 3am, do you want me to call ?
29/10/08 19:43:30 - Yes!
29/10/08 19:44:09 - LOL. Okie.
29/10/08 19:48:05 - How is she doing?
29/10/08 19:50:26 - Bored. Been napping. Bought a Uno deck to play with her.
29/10/08 19:51:16 - ROFL!
29/10/08 21:25:23 - We have early contractions. But not regular yet.
29/10/08 21:25:51 - Woo!
29/10/08 23:14:39 - 3-4cm. Wendy's decided to go the epidural. Not yet headed down to delivery.
29/10/08 23:15:47 - Geez its gonna be a long night.
29/10/08 23:18:52 - Nah the first few cm are the slowest. It should be over in a couple of hours.
29/10/08 23:38:05 - Packed up ready to go down to delivery. Wendy's just had some pethidine. Waiting on a free room I think.
29/10/08 23:36:50 - Ok wimping out. Send sms updates but dont call. Going to bed ;-)
29/10/08 23:39:26 - LOL! You big wuss! This is shaping up to be a quick delivery.
29/10/08 23:39:31 - Ooo wonder if she will make midnight. Funny we both had night babies. Typical with you two.
29/10/08 23:40:28 - Is Ant going to be willing to bring mum and dad or should I tell mum to bring herself?
29/10/08 23:41:25 - Tonight?
29/10/08 23:42:45 - Mum will want to come tonight I think.
29/10/08 23:45:37 - Ok he said he will get your mum but your dad is still sick.
30/10/08 12:20:19 - How many cm? How far apart?
30/10/08 01:39:24 - 8cm. Epidural in.
30/10/08 02:23:34 - Oh yummy. Mucus and blood. Just waiting for 10cm now. Nearly fainted earlier for no adequately explored reason.
30/10/08 02:54:35 - Fully dilated at 2:50am.. and all you big girlie wusses are snug in your beds. Hmph!
30/10/08 05:29:23 - Everything ok?
30/10/08 05:30:37 - Coming out right now.
30/10/08 05:31:14 - Like now now?
30/10/08 05:32:33 - Wow and Zak just had a hairball!!
30/10/08 05:33:10 - Push! Push!
30/10/08 05:33:15 - Out. ;-)
30/10/08 05:33:51 - Woo!!

And thus Kaylee Michelle came into this world.. ;-)

The Young & The Newsless

Just a quick post. We will be posting our Holiday Story soon ;-)

Tony was sitting with Josie tonight as she went to sleep, listening to his iPod.
Josie [whispered]: Daddy?
Tony: Yeeeeesssss?
Josie: Are you laughing?
Tony [hesitates (knowing he's going to get in trouble from the little Hitler)]: ...yes
Josie [crossly]: Daddy! What are you laughing at?
Tony: Nothing.. a podcast I listen to.
Josie: What is it?
Tony: Nothing you would be interested in, go to sleep.
Josie [also crossly]: Tell me!
Tony [frustrated]: Its a podcast, its news, its about the news, you dont like news, you're bored of news.
Josie: No I'm not! I watch the news with Baba every morning!
Tony: What!? What news???
Josie: Uhm.. its called.. The Young and The Restless...

Tony groans.

Labour Day Long Weekend Update

So the weekend was long and involved ;-)

We started on Friday when we went to Uncle Mat's for dinner. Had a lovely time and even played Carcasonne a few times. When I started to doze off, we went home.

Saturday morning, my darling husband let me sleep in, and then didn't wake me up, so I ended up waking at around midday! We spent Saturday lazing around the house, and then went and saw Wall.E in the afternoon, which turned out to be a fabulous movie! Josie liked it too ;-)

Saturday night we watched a few episodes of Stargate. We have been watching Stargate almost all year now and have just started Season 9. Its actually quite exciting cause we watched the show when it was just out for about 6 years religiously, and then in Season 7 kind of lost interest, but it was still our favourite show so we had all the DVD season as they came out and we didn't really worry about it cause we could always catch up. Then this year we decided to finally catch up but we had to start from the beginning cause my memory is shocking. So the last Season or so we have been watching episodes as if they were new, which they are to us. Very exciting ;-) I know. Sad. But exciting! ;-)

On Sunday I decided to let Tony sleep in, since he had let me sleep in, but it was daylight savings, so at 11am, it was now midday, so I could wake him up at 11am and honestly say it was midday! Mwahahaha!

So at midday, after an hour or so of playing Uno (Josie loves it!), she and I went in to wake up daddy.. and make him play Uno too (he loves it too!). As we got settled onto the bed, a distant sound caught my attention. The sound was low, but close. It tolled like a church bell in a rhythm that stirred many childhood memories.

Mr Whippy! Driving down MY street! I suddenly thought of Eddie Murphy in Delirious (or was it Raw??) and yelled ICE CREAAAAMMM!!!! ICE CREAAAAMMMM!!!

After a few pointed looks at Tony, he sighed and hurried to pull on pants and a tshirt, Josie ran to get shoes, and off they hurried down the street after Mr Whippy, with me yelling "I want the nutty one, with the flake!!".

Fulfilling their mission superbly, the mighty explorers came back with the loot.

After scoffing down our melting soft serve chocolate nutty scoops of heaven (ok I exaggerate, but I'm in the moment..) we played a few hands of Uno (with Josie deftly hiding her cards and then winning the game on more occasions than I would like to admit), we went off to Uncle Mat's to help him (well for Tony to help him and us to 'hang out') with the nursery. The room is looking great with Josie's old cot and a new single bed in there.. not long now!! ;-)

We hung out there for a few hours before being invited out to dinner with Wendy's family. Dinner was lovely and Josie entertained the table with her hilarity and occasional tantrum ;-)

When we got home we watched another few episodes of Stargate ;-) Once we finish Season 10 of Stargate, we move on to Stargate Atlantis (an offshoot series), then move onto Xena: Warrior Princess (which we also didn't watch the entire series of), and after Xena.. well ask me in a couple of years ;-)

So that brings us to today. This morning I met Vika and Becca and we all (minus the sleeping husband) went and saw Beverly Hills Chihuahua. It was better than I was expecting. I even cried in a few moments (altho Vika started crying way before I did). After the movie we went and got Daddy and went to Vika's to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.

We first went to a park up the road from them, where we stayed for all of 5 minutes before heading back because:

a. It looked like it was about to rain.
b. It was getting cold.
c. Josie suddenly decided she was hungry.
d. Josie suddenly decided she needed to go to the toilet.

*rolls eyes*

We spent most of the afternoon playing Uno (Becca has a special Harry Potter set). Then we watched some Australian Idol. Then we played some Wii. Then Tony put Josie to bed, while we played some more Wii. Then we watched a bit more of Idol and then we went home. In amongst all that, Vika painted Josie's, Becca's and my toes and fingers. So now I am all ready to take on the Gold Coast ;-)


As we were playing Uno, Josie was getting more and more disgruntled at having to pick up cards (Daddy kept giving her pick up cards!). So out of nowhere, silently, daddy got handed the following note:

.. which was quickly followed by:

.. just so I didnt feel left out ;-) And she didn't actually write 'You suck my mum'. She was trying to write 'mum' but ran out of space ;-)

Josie has another Vacation Camp tomorrow, then is going swimming and spending the day with Becca, then is going to Baba's and then has another camp on Friday. Tony and I are taking Friday off to pack and get ready for the trip and then Saturday morning we are off!! Woohoo!

I am dire need of a vacation! ;-)