Sick Children

So now I know some of what it means to have sick children and I really don’t like it – I would go as far as to say that having sick children may be one of the worst and most exhausting things you can ever experience and I have not had a very big dose of it at all.  It started with Tom being sick, woke him up in the morning and found him to have very high temp and super lethargic. Took him to the doctor and he found throat infection and put him on Broad Spec Antibiotic. His temp did not stay down for more that 2 hours at a time and I spent most of Friday and that night sponging him down and checking his temp. He slept on a bed on the floor in our room and I was lucky to get an hour sleep here and there. He had nightmares and cried through most of the night and his temp normalized early on Sat morning. 

Max was already on an antibiotic for a bronchitis type infection of his chest and so between him and Tom there was not much sleeping going on. Max started showing signs of some major discomfort soon after that I had to take him back to the doctor very early on Tuesday morning where we established that he had very sore and infected tonsils and needed a different antibiotic for that.  He also spend a night in our room with me fighting to keep his temp under 40 deg and one foot in the door and one foot out ready to take him to hospital if necessary. They are not on our medical aid yet and as you can imagine things are rather tight at the moment so I was trying to stay calm about everything and delay a trip to the hospital if at all possible. It is an absolute mind bender when you are googling “high temp - when to go to the hospital” with one had and holding a screaming toddler in the other at 2am in the morning.  I was awake from 11pm that night until 3pm the next afternoon when Rog got home – I really don’t know how people do that on an ongoing basis – scary stuff.

Anyway after those two nights I went and stocked up on pain and fever meds and suppositories and now have a rather impressive stash!  I did however end up taking Tom to the hospital sometime after midnight a few days later when nothing worked and he was screaming about abdominal pain that would not go away. He was put on another antibiotic and given some pain meds and buy the end of the following day was fine again. 4 doctor appointments, 1 x-ray, and a lot of medicine later and we seem to be on the mend! A lot poorer but a lot happier and more aware of the value of good health and great sleep.

So - the last week and a half has left our wonderful sleeping routines in complete disarray and we now have two extra clingy kids who think being sick is the key to sleeping in our room and the key to lots of extra special attention. I have two rather upside down tummies and one toddler who is either constipated or spray painting his car seat.  I have now experienced a public toilet emergency involving having to throw away an entire outfit and wash my child in the basin and I am very good at catching projectile vomit with my hands before it lodges itself in my carpet.  I have also devised new ways to get my toddler to take all his medicine and am getting more and more oblivious to the mess that surrounds me on a daily basis.  Yeeeeee Ha!

This week I bought “Sustained Energy for Kids” and we have loved trying some new delicious and healthy recipes. Both kids line up like little birds in the mornings and evening for their meds and supplements and we are well on the road to recovery! 

   

New School

Tom started school 2 weeks ago and seems so be in a wonderful routine.  He was so brave on his first day and I could not believe how well he did, no fuss no tears it was amazing!  The second day there was a little bit of a lip quiver and by the 3^rd day he woke up genuinely sick and did not go to school. We spent that weekend lying low and he was back to school on Monday but not without a rather admirable attempt to convince me that he had relapsed since Sunday afternoon and was in fact in a very bad way. Anyway I packed him up and took him to school and he started crying as we got out the car, I had to leave a sobbing child at school and I felt terrible. The next day did not go much better - this time he added in an extra “frozen to the ground” effect where I actually had to push him forward through the door and close it behind him. I felt soooo mean!  I went there and then to buy him a present to “bribe” him with for the next day and we spoke about no crying day in detail when he got home. I explained that he would get a surprise when he got home if there were no tears about going to school and it worked like a charm.  

The next day there were no tears and he reminded me more than once on the way home that he had been so good and that he did not cry “ even when I could not see him”. He was delighted with his Spider man lucky packet and I was delighted with my bargain lack of tears purchase.  He has been fine ever since and this week he even let Rog take him to school, which has made a massive change to my hectic morning schedule!   He loves his school and has started remembering some of the children’s names this week.  He is not able to tell me much about his day but always announces proudly that he ate all his lunch and that he had so much of fun!

Two Birthdays in 10 days

With Christmas and New Year out the way now we could focus on their birthdays – only 10 days apart and both in Jan – I had my work cut out for me!  Thomas turned 5 on the 6^th Jan and Max turned 2 on the 16^th Jan.  For Thomas birthday we decided to take him and his beloved buddies Jake, Mary, Siya and Simon through to Ushaka Marine world.  We went online and showed him all the pics and he was so excited to do this for his birthday. When we got there is soon became apparent that young Tom was having a less than fabulous time and he started to look very sorry for himself indeed.  He is a very brave little boy and hates to admit when something scares him – we had to read between the lines and work out that he was completely intimidated by all the slides and was not enjoying himself as much as we had hoped.  

Anyway we soon took a break and had lunch at Moyo restaurant where Tom perked up considerably! We spent the rest of the day watching a dolphin show and walking through the Aquarium, which everyone enjoyed very much.   We asked my brother to help us supervise the kids and I shudder to think what would have become of us had he not been there – you tend to bite off more than you can chew when you are ignorant of the challenge ahead and we definitely needed the help even with these well behaved kids! Everyone had a wonderful time and Tom had a very special birthday. He was completely understanding when his overwhelmed mother explained why he could not have a Spiderman cake and ended up being very happy with his little cupcake stuffed with 5 candles and some pretty toppings.

I decided the little Max’s 2^nd bday would be a low-key affair and we had it at home with the Grandparents, Aunty and 1 little friend under our favorite tree. He loved all the attention and really enjoyed all his new toys!

Christmas with the Boys

Christmas was amazing – the most fun Christmas I have had in a very long time!

When I realized that I was more excited about Christmas than they where - it dawned on me that they have never experienced a Christmas like what I had as a child and were therefore completely underestimating what was to come.  One day while Rog was out with them I went and got us a real Christmas Tree and lights and decorated it as a surprise for when they got back.   They loved it and started asking more questions and becoming more interested. We also decorated our favorite big tree outside with ribbons balls and lights and so the excitement started to build. When the presents started appearing underneath the tree that’s when things really started to hot up and Tom insisted on daily updates over which present were his and which presents belonged to Max.  He asked to open then every day and every day we spoke about the amount of sleeps till Christmas.

For many years now Rog and I have hosted a family dinner on Christmas Eve and this year we did the same.  This years dinner was not quite as polished as the year before and my table did not look nearly as lovely as in previous years - but we did have happy messy boys playing right up until supper time and I think that I was the only one who noticed my less than fab décor.

They got to open a few presents that night and so the frenzy began.  Pool Noodles, body board, cars and laser light from Uncle Adriaan, Spiderman Ball, books, movies and playdo, remote control car from Uncle Brett & Auntie Lisa, swing ball and mega blocks from Granny and Pappa and Cars and Aero plane from Ouma – what more could two little boys ask for!!  We laughed all night and played with fake mustaches, only Tom thought they were awful and refused to wear one, don’t think he is going to be the hugest supporter of Movember in future. He does an excellent job as head of the shaving police in our household and tells Rog off on a regular basis.

The next morning we opened some more pressies from Rog and I, most notably the red bicycle that Tom had been dreaming about – “Is that for ME?!” he asked when he saw it, such a huge hit! We had a fun morning together before heading out to our extended family gathering at the cottage.  Soon after we arrived it became apparent that there was a lot more spoiling in store – and they received more gifts from all the Cousins, Aunties and Uncles. At one point Tom looked at me with a crazy look in his eyes and declared “I NEED another present!” after which I had to give him a little pep talk and remind him of how much he had already received.  It is actually rather funny - opening presents can be very addictive for little children and these two where seriously hitting the “overload danger zone!”

That night I packed out all their presents on their bedroom floor and they had a chance to take it all in – all Tom wanted to do was show his friends and immediately started asking for when Jakie was coming to visit again.  I never ever want my children to be spoiled and will work very hard to avoid this - but there is something wonderful about seeing that for the first time in their little lives they have something to show off about and I will allow this for a limited time – they deserve it!

They have spent many happy days since Christmas playing with their presents and it has been lots of fun to watch them discover all the things that you can do with the various items. I have realized that imagination is not something that we are born with and it is something that is developed within the mind of a child. I grew up with a mom that read to me every day and it has been amazing to witness how daily this is developing in front of our eyes and how as we spend time with them every day that their fervor for life, playtime and mealtimes increases. It is like only when you know what it possible you begin to look forward to it.

NEW YEAR - We went up to Roger’s folks on the farm for New Year – our first sleepover as a family. They were very excited about this and our car was packed to the max with every conceivable gift that they wanted to take up. We stayed until well after lunch the next day and had such a special time together as a family.  Granny put up a small porta-pool and the guys made a ramp for the new bike – we even had fireworks!  Tom made “real pasta from flour” with Grandpa and even went hunting palm trees with a real chainsaw with the boys. We ate delicious palm hearts and prawns (made the Mauritian way) – the boys loved it! 

There is pretty much no way that they will not turn out to be foodies in our family – between Dad, Grandpa and Uncle Brettie the Chef, these boys get to taste the best of the best and they have loved every bite. Tom is not huge on chilly and has learned to be a little skeptical of what Grandpa adds to his plate - but we are convinced that with time he will give in to the nagging and surrender to the family addiction.

FUN & GAMES!

Wishing you all a beautiful 2013 filled with love, hope and happiness!

xxx