Girls germs

Sadly it's true, we're all sick - at the same time, which isn't that much fun as the Mum I can tell you! I had a head start though, and from Tuesday was virtually confined to bed, not eating etc. until Friday, and then was only up and about for short times. Still not really eating much, even today and it's been nearly 5 days now. Nasty flu this year - everyone's been telling me that and I was considering myself fortunate to have missed out - how wrong I was. I don't normally get very sick, and if so for short periods, so this has hit me hard - might be a message to slow down for a bit.

The girls are getting rather sick of being housebound, and with their own mild illnesses, are just uncomfortable enough to be easily upset...what a grumpy house we've been. Greg was away earlier in the week at a conference, but bravely came home, and while he fought the good fight - looks like he has finally succombed to the dreadful lurgy that I have. Unfortunately it's not as easy for him to have time off - so he'll be 'soldiering on' with Codral (or the generic equivalent) tomorrow at work.

Some pics

It's been a while since I downloaded anything off the camera, and to be honest there wasn't much there - we often forget to pull it out and take photos, and remember on the return journey...slack parents I know. Anyway, here's a few shots of recent weeks - it appears that Ellen has unfortunately inherited my dress sense (or lack thereof!)...

Veggie tales

Forgot - this was from a few days ago, but the girls and I returned home from getting some groceries. I unloaded some bags from the car and went back for more and to get the mail. On my return I discovered the two girls happily eating on the floor of the lounge room. Apparently Ellen has mastered the opening of the fridge door, and found herself some mushrooms (a favourite - weird I know) and Olivia a huge tomato (as big as my fist and also a favourite) and they settled in for a snack. They both finished their items in no time and were back for more - I'm thinking we need to invest in one of those fridge locks up high, or we'll be out of vegetables before I know it. Olivia has been found before rummaging through the grocery bags until she locates the broccoli or (most recently) the pumpkin, and then helping herself - through the plastic and all! I found pumpkin seeds and followed the trail to her happily munching on the pumpkin...I do feed my kids meals - really!!

Girl time

Well, Daddy has left for a 3 day conference for work, so it's just the three girls at home at present. We're all a tad under the weather, but still getting up to some mischief (of course!). Today started with Greg getting up at 3am - apparently his head was very active and so he'd decided to head down to the shop to do a couple of hours work before heading off to the conference at 5.30am for an 8am start down the coast. Unfortunately he hasn't quite mastered the art of the quiet and dark departure while carrying bags etc., so it was an early start to the day for me too.

The second time I woke was to have Ellen standing next to the bed with a pen in her hand and black around her mouth...she'd found the permanent marker that we have been using on a map to follow the route of her grandparents while they're away on their big around Australia trip. How she managed to reach it I have no idea, but the telltale evidence on her face and the timber dining room table were not greeted with a happy response from me...! We managed to get the black off her face and hands for Church, but the table still needs some specialist care I think!

A new cousin

He's finally here. Zachary Harry Eigel arrived at 8.22am on Tuesday morning, 10th July 2007, weighing in at a healthy 8pounds 4ounces. He's a lovely little fellow, who thus far seems to have a good temperament and like for sleep - not unlike our Olivia at the start. They are all home now and settling in to life together as a family of four. Ellen and Olivia were quite taken with their new cousin - Ellen was keen to feed him something (tiny teddies or whatever else was handy), while Olivia was keen for a pat (and to check that his eyes were in the right place) - poor boy, if he survives growing up with them as cousins he'll be a tough little man I think!

Update

Well, good news - Olivia's finger looks to be 'fusing' well thus far, so a few more doctors visits and dressing changes and hopefully she'll be as good as new. She did manage to pull off the original dressing on the first afternoon, which started everything bleeding etc. again, so Greg and I managed to sort it out and went for overkill wrapping to make sure that it couldn't happen again.
The positive side of the whole event is that due to it being so uncomfortable to crawl, Olivia has decided to try out walking with a lot more enthusiasm. So perhaps we'll finally get some use out of the piles of hand-me-down dresses that have been hanging in her cupboard for months now! A complete waste of time when she's crawling - slow her down too much.

Photo was taken a few weeks ago - so no bandages thankfully, although given her approach to most things in life, I very much doubt this will be her last anyway! It's Oliva playing with Granddad (my Dad) in Nanna and Granddad's new backyard. The girls love spending time with Nanna and Grandad and going up to check the mail, visit Mum's friend Barbara and see the bus.

Ouch!

Unfortunately we had an 'incident' this morning - Greg rang me at work to tell me (over the background screams) that Ellen had accidentally slammed Olivia's finger in the door. So he had an eventful morning of trying to get Olivia seen to at doctors and X-ray clinics, while managing Ellen until I could get back from work to help. I had a great run on the highway, but was still nearly 1.5 hours. Olivia kept trying to put her fingers in her mouth (blood etc. everywhere and fingernail hanging off), so Greg kept holding her hand away to stop that. Unfortunately he was still in his PJs and with only half his face shaved at this point, so it was a bit tricky for a while there. When I arrived at the X-ray clinic he was still half shaven but had managed to change into 'regular' clothes.

Anyway - a couple of hours later we're all home again, xray showed no fracture thankfully, so apart from her fingernail being ripped off (from the wrong end) and some very nasty cuts and bruising which will hurt for a while yet, she's fine. A few daily visits to the doctor for dressing changes and it will all be behind us hopefully. And now we'll be having a relatively quiet next few days - with Olivia not able to use her right hand much due to the bandaging of her ring finger being so bulky...Mummy will need to be very inventive with the activities! We have 'playdates' arranged with two different families on Thursday and Friday, so we'll be kept plenty entertained by the other kids I imagine.