Oh My Gosh!!!

It appears that when it rains, it pours!! We had Lauryn at A&E (accident & emergency) tonight. She's been cranky for a majority of the day. Threw up this morning in bed and has been coughing. I figured it was going to be the same thing Kamryn had or that it was all from her teething. Bloody eye teeth!!! Well tonight it all came to a head. She had a fever of 37.3C/99F (according to our crappy thermometerr, apparently). But after I gave her pamol at 6PM her temp didn't come down much. I put her to bed and after about 30 minutes she was screaming her head off. I didn't know what her problem was. Teeth, same thing Kamryn had, who knows. So I got her up and she was burning up. I took her pajama pants off which she wasn't happy about. Tried giving her more milk in a bottle. She didn't want it. Sat up on the couch and just vomitted everywhere! Then I remembered Kamryn's temp spiked immediately after she had thrown up on Friday. So I decided it was best to head to A&E. So off we went. They said it would be a 30 minute wait but it was more about an hour and a bit. The nurse came and checked her temp after we were there for 45 minutes and her temp was now 38.9C/102F so I wasn't happy. Lauryn didn't even want me putting my hands on her belly under her shirt and she wouldn't walk on the floor with her bare feet. Guess I was too cold and so was the floor. We were giving some brufen (sp?) for the temp. Once we were finally in to see the doctor her temp was only down 38C. He checked her over well and as soon as he got to her left ear, he knew immediately what was causing the problem. Then he checked the other one. She has a really bad ear infection in both ears. He said it was pretty bad on the drum. I had noticed her putting her hands up to her ears during the day but with teething all of this goes hand and hand and she wasn't doing it constantly throughout the day. Plus she didn't have temps yesterday at all. Poor thing! I feel absolutely miserable that it's that bad. This is her first ear infection. So we were given an antibiotic. But I have been pretty shitty towards her today for whining and crying. Now I feel stink. I just hope she recovers quickly and there aren't any lasting effects.

I know what happened, I jinxed myself. I mentioned on the American board that my kids hadn't been sick. Great. Now they are. This is Lauryn's first real time being sick. She's never been on an antibiotic. We managed well last year without any major illnesses. I guess this will be our year. Let's just hope nothing more happens from here. Now I'm worried about repeat ear infections. While we were at A&E there were many other kids there. Probably the most kids I have ever seen there. All realitively close in age to our two. There were 3 waiting when we got there and another 3 had come in when we went in to see the doctor. So obviously it's really going around. We got home at 10:30 and both girls went straight to sleep (obviously since it's well past their bedtimes lol). Here's hoping things get better from here...............

Well She Did It

I just read tonight that Nicole Kidman married Keith Urban. Oh how disrespectful! We all know I moved to New Zealand just to get close to him (shhhhhhhh, don't tell Hugh lol)! LOL, he was born in New Zealand afterall. I think it is sooooooo funny he has come so far in his career! He is such a fabulous country singer. I remember his first album in the States back in early 2000. It may have come out in later 1999 but remember him for sure in 2000. I remember talking to an Australian, Shaun, online about him because Shaun liked country music. Shaun said he never heard of him and I said he came from Australia. I told him then they he may hear of him in a couple of years. Um, Shaun, do you know who Keith Urban is now???? And such a beautiful song he sung to Nicole too, had to listen tonight just to hear for myself. Just beautiful! I'm not sure about this marrige though. They don't look *real* comfy like Nicole and Tom did. But then Tom has gone el loco anyway. Good for them! Ok, fine, I'll just move on to Tom Welling (aka Superman; Smallville) cause after all we all know those midwestern farm boys all look like this!!!!! Or at least they should ;) Here's how I like Tom lol, love the rugged stubble.......mmmmmmmmm, yummy lol! Ok, yes, I know he is married and here's one of them too, Tom and wife. Going to bed now, maybe I shouldn't have watched The Fog tonight lol!

Happy 5th Anniversary!

On June 23, Hugh and I had our 5th anniversary. Oh and what a memorable time!

First we celebrated our anniversary on Thursday the 22nd. I had to work the 23 and we didn't want to go out when there would likely be more people around. Hannah volunteered to watch the girlies while we went out. We decided to eat at Hola (a Mexican restaurant) in Orewa. In New Zealand there aren't many Mexican restaurants at all. And this one opened about 9 months ago but we haven't gotten the chance to go. We both LOVE Mexican food and we make it quite frequently. But those that make Mexican know it isn't always a quick process plus it was nice for someone else to cook it for us! At the restaurant we had a tostada to start, Hugh had chicken enchiladas and I had chicken quesadillas and for dessert we have margarita pie. It was soooooooooo yum! OH, and I had two strawberry margaritas lol. It was just so good that it's worth going back again and again ;) It's nice to have a good Mexican restaurant around. And it was actually American style Mexican and not NZ style Mexican which tends to get a bit fancy like with gourmet pizzas (not Mexican gourmet pizza but along those same lines lol). Never understood the whole fascinations with gourmet pizza! It was great! I would have had more margaritas but figured I should stop. Then we went off to the movies to watch Poseidon. Theater was freezing but it was a good movie. Nice effects and was good to watch it on the big screen. So we had a wonderful night. It was hard to get my head around the fact that Hannah was watching the girls at home since no one has ever watched them at home while we have gone out. But the girls were great and Hannah coped well lol ;)

Now Friday, our actual anniversary. Kamryn started coughing in the night on Wednesday and by Friday she was feeling worse. She was shivering and threw up. We expected it to be another viral cough like she had a few months back but thought we should take her to the doctor just to make sure. Hugh came back from the doctor's and walked into the house without Kamryn. Right away I was freaked. He said 'we need to go to Starship because he thinks she has pneumonia, do you want to come?' Uh, hello! Yes, of course! Crikey dick! So we all pile in the car quickly and rush into Auckland. I started crying cause I know how bad pneumonia can get and Kamryn said 'mommy, why are you crying?' I was worried. Hugh told me though if he thought it was really bad that he would have called an ambulance. So I felt a bit better about that and the fact that Kamryn seemed to be getting more alert in the car. Hugh didn't know what her temp was at the GP's either cause he didn't say what it was. After a two hour wait, she was checked out and everything was ok. Nothing to worry about and the doctor said again that it was probably something viral. So back home we go, thank goodness there wasn't anything. I was so scared. I've never been in this situation with either girl. Unless you count my emergency c-section to get Lauryn out. Anyway, back home and I was off to work. Not that I wanted to go but I needed money and Hugh was home with her. I called Hugh to check on her and she was throwing up her dinner in the background. I left work and came home. All day she had been running high temps and throwing up. And I looked on the hospital paper today and it said her temp at the GP's was 40.1C (104F) - OMG, and I'm only just now realizing how high it was after doing the conversion, I don't know celsius well, but 104F is an extremely dangerous temp. I guess that is why they didn't waste giving her pamol at the GP's office.

Now today everything is fine with her. Still has the cough and a runny nose. Running close to high temps but it's nothing like yesterday. And she's eating without throwing up and is active and back to annoying her sister. So I guess she is fine lol. Anyway, that is our memorable 5th anniversary!

Baby Teeth

We are coming around the corner of another milestone for Miss Lauryn. The eye teeth or canines are coming through. Great diagram here. These are supposedly the hardest ones for them to get since they are pointy. I know she has been teething with these for a while and they have been driving her nuts. But Saturday and Sunday night was the worst with them. Monday morning wasn't much better. Hugh had said if there weren't any signs of teeth by Friday then she was going to the doctor since she would chew things up and then spit them out. Making us think it could have been a throat infection. Well last night at dinner Hugh thought he seen a wee tooth ridge so I had a look. There wasn't one where he thought but on the opposite side there is one finally poking through. It's been a while since her first molars came through and we knew these would be doozies! Poor thing. At least her mid morning stirrings, screamings and cryings all make sense. I just hope they all come through in one shot though. NO waiting. But pictures will now look different. I can't imagine cutting teeth or what it would feel like. I know I hated losing them and being able to feel the gum pull from the tooth. Uck!!! I still cringe thinking about it. Or when I had to have a baby one pulled at the dentist and you could hear the gum pulling and then popping when it came out. Seriously, I don't know how I am going to handle this with the girls. But I have time to work it out lol.

Kindy (Preschool)

Well we got our phone call today that said Kamryn could start kindy now. She won't be able to start until July 17 since school holidays are just around the corner. I figured that would be the way. She's lucky that her birthday falls on school holidays. Although Hugh says it's not lucky lol cause people go away for the holidays. Anyway, we have a meeting next week and then she starts the 17th. We are going to have to think about keeping her in daycare. I'm not sure what to do. I'm assuming she'll go the same days as Hannah's son, Ethan, which are Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Right now she is in daycare on Wednesdays (afternoons) and Fridays (all day). I don't really want her away 5 days a week. It is nice having her somewhere all day though and she tends to 'grow' better when she is there for a whole day. Don't know. We will have to think about it more, I suppose.

Global Personality Test

I just found this test on someone else's blog. Quite interesting. It's an advanced global personality test. I must warn, there are over 100 questions if you decide to take it. I don't know how it's rated and if you click on the traits you can see a description of them. Heck, I really thought I would have scored higher in the sexuality department lol. One I seen scored 90%!!! HECK!!! That should have been me lol. Maybe it was the dominate question that made it low lol. Check it out. How closely do you think this describes me? Here are my results:

Stability results were very low which suggests you are extremely worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious.

Orderliness results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.

Extraversion results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||||||||||| 60% Stability |||| 16% Orderliness |||||||||||||||| 63% Accommodation |||||||||||||| 56% Interdependence |||||||||||||||| 63% Intellectual |||| 16% Mystical || 10% Artistic |||||||||||||| 56% Religious || 10% Hedonism || 10% Materialism |||||||||||| 43% Narcissism |||||||||||| 50% Adventurousness || 10% Work ethic |||||||||||| 50% Self absorbed |||||||||||| 50% Conflict seeking |||||||||||| 43% Need to dominate |||||||||||| 43% Romantic |||||||||||||| 56% Avoidant |||||||||| 36% Anti-authority |||||||||||| 43% Wealth || 10% Dependency |||||||||||||| 56% Change averse |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Cautiousness |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Individuality |||||| 30% Sexuality |||||||||||||||||| 76% Peter pan complex |||||||||| 36% Physical security |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Physical Fitness || 10% Histrionic |||||||||| 36% Paranoia |||||||||||||||| 63% Vanity || 10% Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||| 56% Female cliche |||||||||||| 43%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

NO!!!

Lauryn has started her 'no' phase. We aren't sure she actually knows how to use it appropriately but she does seem to use it in the right context! We were at the Plaza the other night, leaving from shopping at Foodtown and Hugh reached to grab Lauryn's hand. She pulled it away and said 'nooooooo!' really loudly and was shaking her head lol. OMG, I had to laugh! I couldn't believe it! She's never done it like that before and I couldn't contain it lol. Anytime we give her more food, 'no'. Anytime we say share with your sister, 'no'. We get it a lot lately. She's also started saying 'mine'. LOL, I surely don't remember this with Kamryn. Hmmmm, maybe Lauryn is the one that has my personality instead of the flipside like so many think. It is funny. And her 'no's will be getting her into more trouble than she realizes, I'm sure. She's had a few times outs and she's starting to listen better. She doesn't like sitting there for any duration of time. But when I start to count she is now realizing that I mean business.

James Blunt

What more can you say about this man???? I just seen him on Oprah today! Wow!!! I am always amazed at how he sounds when he talks. I just don't expect him to sound like that. But when he say 'Goodbye My Lover' I thought he was going to break down and cry! Poor man! Then after Oprah asked him how he came up with feeling hollow. And he just said that is what he came up with at the time. And then he said 'ah, she didn't mean much to me anyway' lol. I thought that was funny cause it seems his whole album is about his ex. But who would kick that man out of bed???? Shame on her!!!

Decisions

It seems Hugh and I have many decisions to make for our life in the near future. We are already moving from the Hibiscus Coast in order to find a slower paced life style and hopefully cheaper housing. But we have been thinking of other options as well. I'm never 100% sure Hugh and I will ever own a house here in New Zealand. I get soooooooo perturbed over house prices and the small amount of land that comes with them. Of course you can buy a house with some land but then you are paying through the nose. We are definitely leaving here in January. We aren't sure what we are going to but we need a change.

Another option that we have been pondering is going back to the States for one or two years. The girls and I are going back in October 2007 for a long stay but thought we might as well make it a move and of course Hugh would follow a few weeks later. This brings up many issues and problems for me. We would be living with my mom as we won't be taking anything and everything we have left that won't be sold will be in storage. Mom and I have a tense relationship the way it is and adding my family into that, may make things pretty difficult. I'm not sure how easy it would be for Hugh to find a job. We would be leaving our animals behind. For the most part I think my concern lies mostly with living with mom. She will have rules for her house but we have rules for our girls and she can't feel she can undermind us which I think could happen. It's a tough call. Hugh wants to do it, he's all for it. I'm more hesitant. My gut is kinda saying go for it especially while the girls are little and we can always come back to New Zealand. I just wish we knew things would work living with mom without having to sell our things in case we do come back to New Zealand after 3 months. Ohhhhhhhhh, decisions decisions decisions!!!! I hate being in limbo!!!!!!!

Sweet Hannah

Yes, she is a sweetie! Do you know what she did for me on Wednesday (or well I heard it was meant to be earlier than that lol)? Wednesday just before dinner I had a wee scrapbooking package arrive in the mail. I hadn't ordered anything though but I new the place it came from. So I had Hugh open (I was doing something at the time) and he said it was from Hannah. Then he read the note to me and I just started crying. I didn't believe him at first and he showed me what she had ordered for me. She had bought me some Crate Paper and matching paper embellishments to go with it. And all as a small token for being a wonderful friend. Awwwwwww, how sweet is that?!?!?! So once I was done crying and finally got her on the phone, I just said 'OMG' and she laughed. She knew what I was talking about. Seems I have only reported to Hannah the crap last couple of weeks I have had (I thought I posted on the blog but didn't see it) and she wanted to make me feel better. This box was suppose to arrive last week but Meg got the number wrong *shaking finger at Meg lol*. But now I know why Hannah was interested in knowing which Crate Paper I liked lol. Thanks again, Hannah, and hugs and smoochies!

Do YOU Know Where Jelly Comes From?

I have just been informed tonight that Kamryn knows where jelly/jam comes from. She was telling Hugh she has soldiers with jelly on them. Then she said 'I know where jelly comes from'. So we asked where and she said from the sea. We weren't quite sure what she was on about so we were like ok. Then she follows it up with 'jelly comes from jellyfish, they make jelly'. LOL, well who can argue with that logic, I mean they are jellyfish!

Roski

Ok, ok, ok, I know.......three posts in one day........enough already lol!

But I have to post this. On the weekend I did a layout about our first kitten. I've never done a pet/animal page before so this was good. And I'd never used rounded corners before either. Sometimes I firmly believe you need to venture from the norm just so you can get back on track. This was fun. I enjoyed doing it. And now I will do all our cats as I do believe they are important parts of our lives. Sadly trying to find photos has proven more difficult than I thought. It seems we don't have many of our younger cats. I guess once you have kids, your cats are no longer the focus lol. So here is my layout. Also I haven't done a double in such a long time either.

My Morning

Queen's Birthday seemed to be the break I needed. Hugh had the complete 4 day weekend which was good. We didn't do anything outstanding but we managed to sort through many things and clean things out. But my morning today started nicely. We have been locking Lauryn's bedroom door in the mornings so Kamryn can't go in and wake her up. Well Hugh must have forgotten this morning and Kamryn went in and entertained Lauryn while I was still sleeping. LOL, she's good like that! Then she came in to tell me that she did her clothes and Lauryn's clothes. I wasn't sure what she was talking about. So I got up and as I walked through the living room I noticed that on each of their chairs there was an outfit for Kamryn and one for Lauryn complete with the diaper sitting there. Kamryn had picked out their clothing for the day and set it on their chairs! How sweet!!! Very thoughtful and super helpful! Not only was that a nice surprise but breakfast went incredibly well too. Kamryn wanted jam soldiers. Lauryn generally has the same thing unless Kamryn is having oats. So I gave Lauryn some pear well the bread was in the toaster. She ate her pear without any issues. (Lately, we have been having problems with Lauryn throwing her food ont he floor or after being in her chair for a matter of 5 minutes she says 'I done'.) I gave Kamryn her soldiers and gave Lauryn mini soldiers. Lauryn was taking her mini soldiers and folding them in half and eating them. I thought that was a very clever thought process and she wasn't getting jam on her fingers. Very clever girls! So today has been good and it's made me quite happy and chuffed that things do eventually work themselves out but I sure hate feeling horrible for a few days just to get here :(

Kamryn's Photo Shoot

Now I don't mean a photo shoot of Kamryn that I took but rather a photo shoot that Kamryn did herself of various things. She did this once last week and did pretty well with my camera. It's quite a big camera so wasn't sure how she would manage it but I was impressed. Nothing too flash but it was definitely from her view which was awesome. I will definitely be scrapbooking this! I just zoomed it all the way out and let her go to work. Well yesterday she came and asked me if she could use it again. I said she could. And these are some of what she took. I just wanted to share. I'm definitely going to do layouts using the moon and the pic of our drive lol.