Christmas Advent Bunting - Part One

When I was a kid I used to love my Advent calendar.  That day by day countdown to Christmas day with a chocolate each day.  Simply the best thing a kid could wish for.

Not with allergies though.  There are many advent calendars on the market - some nut free, but they contain dairy, some dairy free, but may contain traces of nuts, so in reality none that we can get for Em.   So we have always created our own, sometimes sticker charts, we bought one a few years ago, where you just move the tag along each day.  We would have fun things to do some days, stories to read, movies to watch, things to bake, activities to do.

This morning Emma announced she wanted to do some art.  I have been trying to encourage her creativity but she wasnt sure exactly what she wanted to draw or paint.  I suggested she do something Christmas so we could put it up and enjoy it for a while.  She and Bear suggested they make the advent calendar this year.

After consulting Mr Google, they settled on Christmas bunting.    Em found an idea of putting pegs on the bottom with a treat or activity written on it.  I thought it sounded like a fantastic idea.  Today they busily created 24 individual pieces of bunting.

A selection of their favourites.

So now they are trying to come up with 24 Xmas things to attach to each of them.

We plan to have Christmas at home this year so I'm sure the Xmas bunting will be a great addition to the Christmas feel of our house.

Determination

Who would have thought that three kids born to the same parents would be so very different.

My youngest never ceases to amaze me with her shear grit and determination to finish a task.

Today she wanted me to do a jigsaw with her, but I was kinda busy so I challenged her to do it all by herself.

Even though she got frustrated at times, she worked at it and completed it.  

Yup, she is so different from her siblings.

Barbs x.

How to ruin a perfect day.......

First be a little bit tired after a late night.

Second take allergy kid to the Hastings farmers market.

Thirdly let her try things that she couldn't possibly react to - fresh fruit, juices etc.

Then as feeling brave, buy her a roll from the bakery after making sure it was safe for her.

Next get kitted up in togs and head off to Splash Planet.  Hang out in the lazy river, do a few slides then have lunch.  Give allergy kid the roll you bought for her for a special treat.

Have some more fun, kayaking, driving the jungle jeep and a quick go on the flying fox.

Then allergy kid comes to you saying she needs inhaler.  Notice large hives all over her face.  Yell to sister and husband that she is having a reaction.  Run (yes I said R.U.N) to where we left our stuff.

Administer antihistamine and ventolin as per allergy action plan.  No relief noticed.  Grab anapen and run (Yep still running) to first aid post.  Try to administer anapen, hands shaking too much, hubby does it.  Safe and steady hands.  Anapen administered.  Staff call for ambulance.  Watch child go in and out of conciousness.  Talk to paramedic on phone.  Wait for ambulance.  Wait some more.  And more.

Allergy kid still suffering majorly.  More hives popping up, breathing wheezy and irregular.  Finally ambulance arrives (we are probably only talking about 10-15 minutes - feels like a lifetime).  Paramedics come with stretcher, oxygen, large kit full of syringes.  Paramedic administers another shot of adrenaline.  Other paramedic inserts IV line.  Administers more adrenaline via IV.  Allergy kid stabilised. Transferred to stretcher.  I climb into ambulance with her.  Nebuliser given to stabilise her breathing.

Arrive Hastings hospital.  Watch child be hooked up to many monitors and still unable to talk (most unusual as those of you who actually know her will understand).  Prendisolone administered.  Hubby arrives having followed ambulance and left other kids with my sister.  We sit and we wait.

About 2 hours after this all started, allergy kid starts to come round.  Parents breathe sigh of relief.  Child transferred to Pediatric assessment unit.  We wait.  Dr finally comes and says we need to stay over night for observation.

No further reactions noted and we are told we can go home.

And home we come.

Back to Auckland.

This is her second reaction since school broke up.

Back to lunch boxes and never letting our precious daughter eat food prepared by others again.

Sigh.

Barbs x.

We've just been on a summer holiday

After a wet and wild winter, our family decided to head for some fun in the sun and headed over to Australia for ten fun filled days.

Off on our adventure - Bear's first ever Plane trip

We started off on the Sunshine Coast, fell in love and didn't want to leave.  The weather was perfect, the pools inviting and the environment everything we wanted.  

Our resort - we couldn't keep the kids out of the pools

We went to Australia Zoo and feed kangaroos, patted a koala and a baby alligator and held a snake as a family - yep it was pretty big.

Emma with some new friends

The amazing crocodile show at the crocoseum

Our little Animal lover feeding a kangaroo - look how it is holding her hand to get the food.

The big boy has always had a fascination with crocs

Next we headed to the hinterland and spent a night in the rainforest.  And true to it's name, it poured down.  Once the rain stopped we enjoyed the area, heard many birds including a kookaburra and frogs and saw the bubbles from the turtles in the pond.  We checked out the pool and were surprised to find a baby whipsnake having a swim..... needless to say, we decided against swimming that day.

After a bush walk to see a waterfall and a picnic at the glass house mountains, we headed down to Turtle beach resort near Broadbeach for our 5 days of fun - and swimming.

Off to check out the beach

We started out with Sea World where Emma got to do a dolphin encounter.  And to keep things fair, the other two got a 10 minute helicopter ride over Surfers Paradise.  Are our kids lucky or what?  Sea World was amazing, so much to see and do, and we only got to do a smidgen of it.  The dolphin show was amazing, as was the Jet Ski show - I wont say too much in case you go.  We were gob-smacked.  The sharks were huge and the polar bear fascinating.  The penguins put on a great display for us too.  We all rode the log flume and the three brave ones rode the jet rider - Bear was too short so I stayed with her and did the log flume again.

Our dolphin loving daughter having the time off her life!

The next day came Wet & Wild.  It was lots of fun - but again too much for a half day, especially since some of the slides came with a 45 minute wait :-(

A day off from the theme parks and out on an Eco-tour of Surfers by boat.  Out over the bar and into the harbour, we had the privilege of a humpback whale and her calf playing by the boat.  It was one of the most humbling things to see, this giant of the ocean gracing us with it's presence.

The next day off to the last park - Movie World.  This was the only park we had been to before.  The kids had a great time.  There is a stunning stunt car show, a fun batman show and us girls watched the parade of characters, whilst the boys did the extreme rides.  We loved the Scooby doo ride and did it several times.  And to cool off we did the Wild West Rapids - the log flume ride that guarantees to get you drenched!  Again not enough hours in the day to do it all and we have plenty to go back too next time.

With the holiday drawing to an end, we drove up to Brisbane, rode the big ferris wheel, walked around the gardens, and swam in the man made beach.  Took a ferry ride along the river, had dinner in a posh restaurant and walked home around the gardens where Mumford & Sons were playing a concert, and we stopped and listened for a while.

All good things come to an end and before we knew it we had landed back in Auckland to blustery winds and rain.

Guess who's thinking about moving to Aussie - or at least planning our next holiday there very soon.

Thanks for reading.

Barbs x.

A weekend with my sister

The kids and I decided to drive down to Napier to spend a weekend with my sister.

We went for a foggy walk

Looking towards the Port of Napier

Where we walked from.

 A couple of monkey's were found hanging around.....

And climbing....

 Some small girls were cooked for dinner....

I pulled up an anchor with a few cling-ons on it

We spent the afternoon at the Ocean Spa - no photo's coz we were all wet!

Then home again home again jiggedy jig.

A quick but fun catch up and promises of not leaving it so long next time.

Thanks for reading

Barbs x.

Loving Bloom

Last week I was lucky enough to win a family pass to the Bloom Festival thanks to Kiwi Families.  I had never heard of the festival but a quick look at their website and I was really keen to go.  So on Saturday Hubby, the girls, a cousin and I went up to Matakana for the day and had such a wonderful time (the big boy had a sleepover to go to and preferred to hang out with his mates rather than come out with us).  It was the best day out we have had in ages.  We struggled to get the girls away from all the fairground rides.  Their favourites - the largest inflatable water slide in the world, and the crazy swing thing.  They also saw jousting and went to a play writing workshop and there were loads of other fun things, but we just did not have the time.  Hubby and I enjoyed watching some of the fantastic kiwi musicians who were playing there, especially our favourite, Greg Johnson.  We finished the day by watching the fantastic Wellington Circus.  We had to drag ourselves away at about 10pm.  I would definitely go again next year, but I would be keen to go for the whole weekend as there was so much we didn't get to see or do.

Jousting

The girls went on this so many times

Bear at the end of the slide

Suse coming down

Emma, finally brave enough to go

And she loved it and did it again...and again

Greg Johnson

Happy girls

Love the hair!

Bouncing

Happy cousin

Circus girl

Real circus girl

Fly by wire

A flying picnic table

Totally mesmerized with fireworks in the background

Such a fun day out.  Thanks Kiwi families.

Linking up with Paisley Jade

Happy New Year

2011 was a tough year for us - you could say we became frequent flyers at Starship as Emma's health fluctuated so much, but we managed to weather the storm and got through the year somehow.  I started working more, and coaching sports teams and became a waterwise instructor.  I had less time for home and family and everything suffered.  Christmas prep was a blur (not helped by Emma breaking her arm...), although the day itself was great, spent in Wanganui with my family.  We then headed over to Napier to spend New year with my sister.  I forced my self to stay up to and farewell 2011 and to see in the new year full of hope and promise (and less hospital visits.  P.L.E.A.S.E.).

Family Christmas Lunch at the Farm

2012 is only going to be better.  The methotrexate is working with Emma, her skin is better than it has ever been and she doesn't seem to be suffering from any of the side effects that long term drug use can bring.

Last year it seemed that everytime I had run out of time and energy and the house was a mess and there were no groceries to be seen; we got thrown a curve ball and everything fell down.  This year we need to be able to handle those curve balls better.  With a kid like Emma around, I know those curve balls are coming, it isn't "if", it is "when".

And this year, I am not going to let things fall down.  This year is the year I am not going to listen to my lazy, do it later, dont feel like it self, and focus on being the organised, tidy, on top of it self that hasn't been around for awhile.

Spending time with our friends and relatives for the holiday season made me realise what a struggle we have with feeding Emma on a daily basis.  And just how hard it is to find food for her when we are out.

Where oh Where would we be without hot chips!  

And sometimes it feels like everything we do has to be okay for Emma.  And whenever we go out the first thing that we have to think about is "can Emma do this?", "can Emma eat there?" and so the other two sometimes miss out on being normal everyday kids.  We are lucky that Emma understands her allergies so well and is often okay about getting something different  - like getting a bottle of Fanta, whilst we enjoy Rush Monroes ice-cream in Hawkes Bay.  Her recent Anaphylactic reaction has meant that the risk of cross contamination with Dairy now has to be taken even more seriously than before.

So this year I am going to spend a little more time planning, take an extra few minutes looking out for new things she can eat and sharing more of my finds and tips that we use for dealing with our allergy kid.  Coz at the end of the day, the allergies aren't going away, the curve balls will keep coming, and we have to make the most of each day.

Happy New Year to you all.