Something Bright For Joshua’s Room

He loves looking at it!

The canvas is now on Joshua’s wall, he spends a great deal of time here, now it looks just that bit brighter.

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Completed Crayon Melt Art

So what do you think of the finished artwork? It was seriously so much fun to do, if you have ever thought if giving this a go at home, I say, “Do it!”

This is how I glued the crayons onto the canvas, using a hot glue gun (essential) and adding a few extras to give them more height.

Then I used a Heat Gun ( you could try a hair dryer if you didn’t have a heatgun, it would blow the wax about a whole lot more too, could be good for a splattered look?) and the wax dripped as melted. I let a section cool and then went back to add another layer, quite addictive really!

Crayon melt art

Earlier last year Emily and I came across some cool crayon melting art whilst we were floating around on the world of YouTube. We knew we just had to give that a go! Not that I had anywhere to put art like that, it’d be fun to play!

We played with oil pastels as we didn’t have any crayons in the house and had trouble getting them to stick to the board, we’d need the hot glue gun and that was at the shop… So we forgot about it for ages until we saw it again recently on Better Homes and Gardens and remembered we wanted to try this. Also, Joshua’s room is finished and provided the perfect spot to put something bright -right above his bed!

We’re using a long canvas and I went down to my local Jacksons, (love that shop!) and purchased a bunch of crayons. Best time to buy crayons is now, right before school, they are so cheap!

We sat and lined them up in colour order, but then I thought I’d have a trial on a smaller board first… you know… to figure out some kind of technique to use. It took us ages to get them just right, and each one was carefully lifted so not to mark the canvas.

And here is the trial version…

How cool is that? Joshy loves it too (ok, so he just wants to bash it, but that’s how we know he likes it, he’s reaching for it) so we will go ahead with the big one tonight.
It’s sitting here on the table, which is very difficult for boys on the autism spectrum to leave alone… they both have been compelled to line them up straight and I want them haphazard. Emily is using oil pastels again, which will give thicker drips of colour, I’ll be sure to post a picture soon!

Good things to report

Surgery went well! We are pretty happy with how Joshua’s day went for him, although it was long and my lip is missing skin from my nervous biting habit.
We were required at the hospital yesterday afternoon to see if we could sort out a dental procedure to be added onto his list whilst he was under general anaesthetic. (You know, just another thing) So after our flight and dealing with their new (and time wasting/frustrating/annoying) procedures for wheelchairs we hit the humidity of Perth and waited for a wheelchair taxi. Because of Joshua’s need for wheelchair these two things had set us back over an hour, then some holidaying family wanted our bigger cab… I don’t think so! I didn’t have to say a word though, two gents stood in and made sure Joshua got his ride.
After our afternoon at PMH we headed over to Ronald McDonald House to wait for Andrew who was driving, then bunked down for a sleep. (Well kind-of.) back at PMH all ready at 7am for admission and drip set-up (yuck, this is where Andrew bails on us, and he headed back to the room to get a couple of hours sleep before the nightshift)
Fast forward to ‘after surgery’ and we are very happy. He was under for 4 hours. Our surgeon decided to do less invasive surgery on his ankles/feet and Joshua looked great (well as great as one can look after a general anaesthetic), after previous ops he was a mess, worrying everyone. So nice to have all his “numbers” perfect! (Temperatures, blood sugar levels, heart rate etc) He has colour and is responsive. Yay! Win for Josh! Oh… And they did the dental too! So now he doesn’t need to go back for another general. Winner winner, chicken dinner!
So dude has his feet wrapped up and has to keep them elevated… and he also has shiny teeth!
Here’s a photo of his right foot, this will be a “before” shot. This one turns the most, or should I say “used to turn most”. Cast will come off in 6 weeks to see the difference.

Big week ahead for a little man

A hug goodbye for Wendy and we are on our way to Princess Margaret Hospital again.

Thanks to our family, friends, staff and scrappers for all your support for our cherished boy as he heads back for more surgery on his feet. You all know how stressful this is for our whole family and it means so much that you care. Organising for so much time away is difficult enough with my home, children, animals and the shop, Wendy is there for us again and my awesome staff offered to do more hours, I appreciate it so much knowing our store is in the best hands so I can focus on Josh.

I hope this year will be a good one for him, it was 2011 for his last major surgery and coupled with a few other things I felt it took all of 2012 to recover from 2011.

There are so many who care for this young lad, it keeps us all going. This time hopefully it will work and this twisting will be fixed and it will be more comfortable for him (after he’s healed of course)
We also have a fabulous room to bring him home to and care for him, last time it was so difficult that his chair didn’t even go through his bedroom door. Huge heartfelt thank you to our friends at Variety club and Shane Crothers, the difference you have made to our lives is magnified in times like this.
Meanwhile we have a big week ahead in making sure all is right for him.
Next update on Josh will be from the big smoke.

In Gustave’s footsteps

Building of the Eiffel Tower has commenced as a prop for our “Weekend in Paris Retreat” I do believe it will be slightly less elegant than the original. Slightly.

We aren’t using 50 tonnes of paint either, (see I have done some homework) but have relieved Bunnings of many a paint can, and have now resorted to having the King crank up his air compressor and spray gun. He loves cleaning that, not. Well, at least he’s up on brownie points.

Here’s the building crew very busy at work.

Gotta love helpers. Underworked and overpaid. 🙂

Personal Life

Seems I haven’t been sharing much of our personal lives of late. I have been thinking about it for a while and felt it easier to post new papers, cool products and exciting new arrivals for the shop.  After a call from my brother who is far away in China working, I realise now how much he likes hearing about our day-to-day stuff.  I guess now is time to get back into it. So I will – for Chris. xx

So why?  What’s going on? At first it was just that I was too busy. Too many things to do and not enough hours in the day. We all suffer from that, but after my Nanna passed away I just felt like anything I posted was trivial. Personal life wasn’t that much fun to write about.  Our  “Family dinner”  hasn’t happened in such a long time, everyone was just too busy or wrapped up in their own lives. I guess I was just plain sad for a while. But there was too much going on for everyone to let it take hold and as the old saying goes “life goes on”. So I did go on, I worked everyday that I could, family life continued, classes were run, a weekend away and I toiled in the garden every day if possible. Life goes on as usual. Or does it?

I miss my Nanna, but I have missed for for years already. It seemeed so absurd to be so sad, when really she has been ‘gone’ for so long.  Watching her draw her last breath, staring  with her wide unseeing eyes straight into my my own I am altered forever . I feel like a huge change has happened inside me that I cannot explain and I feel so different, yet no-one can see, invisible, hidden, masked. I cry easily, but hide it well. I am sensitive but can be strong for those around me.  I am sad for my Mum, who has lost her Mother, that thought brings fresh new tears of it’s own. I am worried for my Pop, hoping he can rebuild a life without the love of his life to fill it. I miss my Dad & my brothers, and all their partners, some living so far away I can’t visit, some living close but too busy to visit.  I wish I could be a better Mum, I have missed a few ‘events’ recently and my tolerance level isn’t as high as usual (and you need to have a HIGH tolerance level living in this house!)

The list goes on and on.

So, that’s me the past few weeks… but I had a plan!

What was my master plan? What was I to do about it?

Smile. And. Get. On. With. It.

Ok… that I can do. Of course we can deal with it. So, that’s exactly what we are doing. Back to normal, with a smile. And it’s working a treat. There is so much goodness in my life. I have every reason to smile. I will even be taking some days off soon and taking my family for some fun.

I might be changed, but I am still me and I have so many things to be grateful for I will not even begin to tell you!

Oh ok, maybe I’ll tell you just one thing that I am thankful for…

Hugs from Josh. That certainly is something to be grateful for. Now, this is a kid who doesn’t give out hugs, or high fives, his arms don’t work that way, but if you line him up he can give a low five and if you sqaush him just right, he will squeeze you in a hug. Oh… the bliss of his hugs.  He squeals with laughter (or is that lack of air?) and loves kisses from his Ma and as long as he can see his TV over my shoulder I can stay there. Would you look at those luscious long fingers on his tiny little hands? They might not work properly, but I have worked out how to get a hug from him. Work with what you have – right? Not worry about what you don’t have.

 

Ok.. one more photo that I am grateful for –

Playing Wii with my noisy crazy kids on a Sunday night. Man I love how they pose so willingly for me now. Love those kids! 

 Goodnight beautiful people. Be good to yourselves.

Life is Good

I have scrapped! I can hardly believe it myself… but I have. Mind you it was in the wee hours of the weekend  as I have been busy in that cubby. Yes the cubby is a goer again. Not that it’s 2015 but it’s getting close. Want to read more about the famous cubby? Type in cubby in the search on the right and all related posts will come up. My darling King of the House is the wonderful kind of man who will start a project and not finish it… unless he is pestered and pestered…. and you all thought I was joking way back here when almost 3 years ago he began the project in 2008 and you thought I was kidding when I said it would be 2015 when it was done. Actually, I knew that wasn’t true, because if it wasn’t done by 2015 it would never get done. This proves that pestering actually does work, but you have to be careful, and only pester so far. A little at a time. Begging also works.  He didn’t want help in there, but fair go… after 3 years he kinda HAS to let us help. So I was scraping and filling gaps and helping with the ceiling (oh yes, this cubby has it all) and painting.

So, in the wee hours of the weekend, whilst tending my sore shoulders (and being up to the big boy all hours poor love), I scrapped. I have been thinking of joining the scrapping fun over at Get Picky , (thanks for the link Jo) and saw the  talented Georgia Keays‘ layout for April Inspiration,  her layout inspired me to do one of my friends. Thanks Georgia!

Waiting for the May Sketch Challenge to come up – I’ll be keen to give it a go.

I’ll leave you with some photos from my 365 project. There are more, but they are kinda boring (or old) so I won’t bother posting them here. You can go look if you want to. Be warned. Boring. 🙂

 

Watch it spin!

116 / 365

 

My beautiful big boy, loving his noisy lighted spinning toy on his tray, it makes a racket, sending me halfway insane and ends up on the floor most of the time, but if he likes it… then it’s all ok!

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Don’t mess with the big sister

120 / 365

 

You’ll be guaranteed to come off second best!
Painting the cubby! We spent all weekend working in here. Mum & Dad are very tired and sore, but the kids are happy. Ceiling in… walls scraped and painted, concrete sealed, window frames in. Teen den is almost done!

 

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We can breathe a sigh of relief now

Here’s my photo for today.

My son had his bandages and stitches removed today… it’s all over! My goodness it’s been a long journey for all of us with the surgery to his legs, but finally we can breathe a sigh of relief…even laugh a little now.
This photo isn’t from today, as he is away on respite, but it shows a happy boy with his Dad. All we have to do now is watch for keyloids – lots of vitamin E and massaging for the scarring.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Our days are filled with Joshua again and I am grateful that my ‘other life’ is being cared for… our 3 youngest at home with Mr D and Miss L and all the animals. Golly I owe them big time when they have kids! I just know Children #’s 3 & 4 will be ranting about Nintendo 3Ds and costumes for Friday night’s Variety Club Bowling night. Over and over and over and over. You have no idea how many times a day some words are repeated by these two.

And my lovely little shop is being well cared for by Kira. Hey… did you know the new Prima flowers are in? She’s been a busy lady!

Today Josh had his 2 lines removed, so his hands are free now. He is only on a couple of painkillers and they are keeping him in check. No groggy medications to make him feel sick or mess with his diabetes anymore either. He is happy, smiling and watching tv silently. The only time he cries is when we move him a little (for a change or injection) and then it’s short lived and he’s happy again. You have no idea how relieved this makes us. We have vivid memories of last year… hour after hour of intense pain, day after day, for months. Breathing difficulties, agonising daily physiotherapy, temperature problems, toileting issues… It was a nightmare to watch him suffer so, and to be able to do very little to ease it.

Photo taken Princess Margaret Hospital at Sundown

One year ago, it was dark, whereas now, 18 months into this journey I see the light at the end of the tunnel now for this procedure. Almost over for you my little buddy, almost. Hang in there. xx

Surgery day for my little man

Note – this post is from yesterday, I was too whacked to come down to the computer to upload it.

Whoa what a day. Big deep breaths (thanks Jenny). Early breakfast at Ronald McDonald House before anyone else is up then head over to the hospital.

 

Sending your child off for surgery is difficult at any age, no matter if it’s the first time ever or you are a seasoned traveller. There were some bubbas there today and you can’t help but look into their Mamma’s eyes and know they are fighting to hold it together.

 In admissions it’s noisy, hustle and bustle of processing everyone in order.

Parents and children sit together, sometimes chatting, a little nervous, but keeping spirits high.

We line up like inmates.. “So, whatcha in for?”

“Oh, cochlear implants for little Joe here… you?”

“Ah, just having some metal removed from my son”.

 

I love that God invented DVD players… 

 

Then it comes time for the anaesthesia, now that is a test of strength. Big breath.

 Hours later, (for us it was 7 hours from admitting to coming out of surgery) you will find parents waiting for their name to be called to say their child is out. They sit all quiet in the Friendship room, it was full today, all silently sitting… waiting… it’s painfully quiet and you can almost hear the worry in their thoughts. No-one looks at each other for too long, and everyone smiles those small forced smiles that say “I’m doing it tough right now, and I can see you are too”. Andrew and I didn’t even sit there today, knowing Josh would be in for a while and went for a walk together. We’ve done our time sitting there before with the lovely ladies serving tea and biscuits, and handing out tissues.

 Josh was cold when he came out, and still, hours later is very cool, but we expect that from him, he can’t keep his temperature very well. He has 5 blankets. His blood sugar levels are off, but we are expecting that. He isn’t eating or peeing… but we expect that. We also expect him to be in a lot of pain, but he is under control… a blessing! I am happy to see him moving his legs and there was no extra surgery required. That is the best we were hoping for.

I tend not to hope too much for the best… only to be disappointed when things don’t go that way for Joshua, but this is a good outcome for him. We just now need to spend some time with him for his recovery and getting him well enough for travel to get home!

Ready as we’ll ever be.

Ok… number one problem is now sorted… I got some much needed sleep. Funny how some things are just better after you’ve slept.

Yesterday I spent a good deal of energy, tears and frustration on something, that in the end resolved itself and I need not have even been aware of it in the first place. Just a spanner in the works was the thing to put me in a spin… but I have to admit I was a bit of a ticking time bomb, just waiting for something to set me off.

So today, the second thing on my list is now sorted too. I am no longer tired, and I am not longer frustrated. Which somehow eases the last two… being sad and scared too.

Joshua is well and happy, we had a bumpy flight but no trouble and Andrew met us here with all our luggage, with diet coke in hand and my medication (200grams of chocolate- administer daily for the next 7 days).

 

Josh’s brothers and sister are in the capable hands of David and Lauren… hugs and kisses guys! I know you are checking here to see how we are going. Also Hi to Mrs C from school from the little wagger (he could have come for ½ day today, cheeky little man trying to get out of school) waving hello Mrs C. Thanks for your laminated poster, its blu-tacked up by his bed.

 

We have had a lovely meal at Ronald McDonald House cooked by Lions Bulcreek and are now settled in our room, the two boys watching Astro Boy and mucking about.

There’s not much room in here, but we are comfy. Andrew set Josh’s DVD up on the wheelchair which is in between our beds and we will put pillows under the sheets to stop him rolling off the bed. Hopefully he sleeps.

 

Hopefully we do too.

I will save this to a usb and pop downstairs to upload it to the blog and check my bookface. Andrew is complaining about his toothbrush… he said it’s flat and doesn’t work… haha, I packed his old “manual” job. Funny man, he keeps me smiling.

He’s keeping Josh smiling too… tickling him. Josh is loving having us to himself.

 

Anyway, just wanted to touch base  for our lovely family and friends before tomorrows surgery, thankyou for your lovely wishes and prayers, feeling ya love… will update tomorrow night.

Now… Josh  – GO TO SLEEP!

xxxx

New Wheels

Joshua has a new ride.

Here’s his old wheelchair. I should have posted a photo of him in it for comparison, but this was a good shot of the chair. And if Josh is in it, then of course you will HAVE to look at his lovely little face instead of the chair. Hee hee.

This chair, he has for …. oh… I forget how long… my computer has photos dating back to 6 years ago, so it’s more than that. When he first got it, it didn’t have a headrest, he wasn’t that tall. Then he grew… and we added a headrest…. but the darn kid just kept growing. Funny that.

Here’s a shot of him in 2005 that I found. Man I thought he was heavy then. This has the headrest on already.

Awwww. aint he cute? Little fella!

So now he has this new one. It’s a Tilt-in-space, which means it tips back and he can rest for  a bit. It’s great as he tends to hunch forward a lot, I imagine his head being heavy to hold up all the time. When we tip it, his head is more upright, and the weight is shifted so it’s not so much on his little butt.

I think he’s still a little unsure when we tip it back, he laughs then lifts his head… like he does on his bed when you lay him down. He’s got good asbs from all the “crunches” he does. Hee hee

The wheels are smaller than the last chair, we had hoped ,when he was younger, that he might “get it” and he could move the wheels with his hands to have a little independent motion. Seems that he is far too lazy for that and would rather be wheeled around like royalty -little slacker!

Hoping it cools down REAL SOON… I heard on the tv yesterday that this hot weather is the hottest/longest we have ever had since recording began… no wonder we are all melting and paying top $ to the electricity company.

I hope you and yours are all safe, happy and well (and cool)

Knee Knocking

Our special little boy is ‘knee knocking’ again. Alleluia. I just noticed.

It’s been a long time. A long long time.

His scrawny little legs must be feeling better as I was squishing him the other night (I force cuddles out of the poor lad)  I noticed he was doing his “happy-flap”. For a boy who cannot talk it’s a way for us to see how he is feeling… and flapping his legs together, knocking his knees, (could just be out of boredom) but shows us he is happy. We always tease and say he’s like a dog wagging his tail and he “knee knocks” when I come toward him for a  kiss and a tickle.

I haven’t seen him do this since before his surgery, and that was so long ago I had almost given up thinking he would ever do it again. I liked it when he flapped about, and after surgery he was ever-so-still. Scary still. Month by month he’s improved until like magic I just notice he’s knock, knock, knocking again.

His wounds on his legs haven’t quite healed as I would have liked and he doesn’t like to roll on his side anymore, but he’s better every month.  It fills me with dread thinking of next year (which is coming up way too fast) when he goes back and they go in again to remove the pins and plates. I can’t help but hope that once they are gone and he heals, that it’ll be more comfortable and he might be able to sleep on his side again. I can feel them under his skin, so foreign and misshapen.

The scar on the right side is healing much better, and after 7 months I thought they would have healed completely, just over an inch of puckering left to go on this side. The left side though, all 5 inches are still puckered. Wonder why?

His feet and ankles has been (in my humble opinion) a waste of time, effort and pain for Joshua. The casts were plain awful and although they have done their best, I cannot see much of a difference. Months later I see a slight change, but he still needs AFO (artificial foot orthosis) for most of the day to straighten them. The wounds here thankfully have healed beautifully, and the pressure sore healed perfectly. There are only a couple of small marks to remind us what he went through and we can move them about, tickle and play with no sign of discomfort. Ok, so now I am looking at these photos, and thinking maybe there is an improvement. I might just have to take back that statement about it being a waste of time… and he can tolerate his AFO’s much better now than before. Only a tiny little scar on the left ankle, but the two inch ones on his right foot are almost healed and ever so feint now.

He will never walk, that is a given, but to hear that familiar knock knock of this knees is both funny and comforting at the same time. Now that old cat who has taken to sleeping on the end of his bed better look out.

Since July 2006

Way back then I had an idea. I thought it might be a good idea to start a blog. An online journal of sort for work, with a little family thrown in for good measure.

Well it seems that ” family”  has dominated my blog for the past 4 years as much as I like it to be about work, and as I have been blogging along for 4 years, I now have a bucketload of data from wordpress. I keep track of visits, how many hits there are and what is the most viewed pages and see the figures on how many hits a day.

I have a few very popular posts… the ones that get the most visits are The Exploding Box… remember this one girls from years ago? 

I believe the reason this is so popular is because there was a downloadable tutorial on how to create this, and that boxes like these are perfect for any reason, any season. Me? I just love boxes.

Seriously this link has been clicked on 1,464 times to date.

The next most viewed and clicked on pages are a series of Cricut pages and there are quite a few who get through to this blog somehow by searching birthday cakes or something.. weird. Cricut is popular worldwide so I understand that, not that there is anything special about what I have to offer with the world of Cricut.

This one was popular… actually I might like to go back and do another just like it with the new Prima flowers.

The next most viewed (and my highest hits) is when I talk about Joshua, my darling little boy. Not so little anymore, but my darling none-the-less. His special needs mean parenting is different for us, and writing is one of those coping mechanisms I guess I have leaned on throughout the years. I try not to write too much about him, I can become quite the bore when I go on and on, but you don’t have to read, and still choose to. Thankyou.

But some people out there read this, and my previous posts and some people have been there with us, thinking about Joshua, praying for Joshua, sending him love.

Love for the  highs.

And love for our lows

and when I have been sick… then find he is sicker and I hate myself

Sometimes I shared part of our day

Sometimes life is scary

 And sometimes you might  feel my pain like I feel his.

Even the everyday stuff

And the fun times… oh we love the fun times.

Love that kid! Family might dominate my blog… and that’s ok with me. Hope it’s ok with you too. xx

9 weeks down

A couple of months ago our special boy Joshua went in for some surgery. Some readers followed our journey, reading the ramblings of a troubled Mother in the form of this blog. Thankyou for asking after him. I just wanted to update everyone on his progress and let you know he’s doing fine.

https://thescrapbookhouse.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/highs-and-lows/

This was back then, I blogged everyday. Every minute he was in my anxious thoughts and I worried it would never end. The Dr assured me it would and I found that I didn’t quite believe him.

Our last visit almost did my head in, that was the week before SIA. It turned out to be four of the toughest days I’ve had. Oh okay, maybe not that bad as  I’ve had some pretty tough days concerning Josh, but you know what I mean. Lordy I am melodramatic sometimes. Sorry. I guess it’s had just been a long time and worn me down. I didn’t even blog. I have some irrational scribbling in my book, but it’s the writing of a madwoman and not fit for public viewing. Oh dear. Andrew rescued me on the Friday night, (my knight in shining armour), and we were home by midnight, to be on the road again for SIA Sunday morning. SIA was a wonderful relief.

He’s come a long way in 9 weeks. It’s been a long 9 weeks for us, longer for Joshua I imagine.

Right now. He’s off all pain medications (most of the time). He’s (almost) sleeping through the night. He’s smiling again.

He’s smiling again.

Did you hear me? HE’S SMILING AGAIN.

That makes a Mamma’s life worth living.

Set for Term 2

Classes start this week again and we are busy making our samples and tweaking the instructions sheets for our members.

I have worked on Michele’s layout this weekend… those doing this class will love it. Here’s a sneaky peek.

Josh heads to hospital tomorrow and then on Wednesday he and I will go to Perth for a couple of days. I will be so relieved for him when these casts come off, he is so uncomfortable that I feel like crying everytime I look at him lately. His little face looks up at me, pleading eyes, and I just can’t take it. He has been through so much. I just wish it were all over, and can see now this is going to be on-going for him for a long time. He is voicing his discomfort and having trouble sleeping, most nights it’s been between 2am and 4am when he finally goes quiet, even then he’s not asleep. Therefore the whole house is tired and needing sleep-ins. Wow I got a big one this morning… my beautiful hubby shut the door and kept it dark for me.

Right now I am packing for SIA (trade show in Sydney, leaving Sunday)  making sure I have everything I need, and nothing I don’t. I want to be packed as light at possible, so I can bring as much home as possible. hee hee. One bonus is that my desk will be clear for the next couple of weeks. That is if my girl doesn’t take it over.

Holding it together

I’m tired and emotional, therfore I decided to delete my entire post for tonight. By tomorrow I would have regretted posting something so heavy. So it’s gone. Yay for the delete button.

Onwards and forwards. Or something like that.

Glow in the Dark

Been a bit pre-occupied lately, I guess that’s school holidays for you. Busy busy, (when I’m not sleeping late) Sorry for not updating. My dearest darling King of the House had his birthday on the weekend and we had a few friends around for a BBQ to help him celebrate and make a fool of himself. Nice one.

My girl and I have been trying to do a little gardening, and so far have planted 50 bulbs in the front garden. Who knows if they’ll come up, they’ve been in the shed for years. I’ve been pruning and pottering as well and we plan to scatter some seeds and finish updating the reticulation tomorrow. Proud of my 12 yr old that she knows what “risers” and “4mm adapters” are, just wish her fingers were a little stronger, then I could leave her to it! It’s been fun hanging out though, we’ve done a lot of that these holidays.

We watched “New Moon” the other night. I really enjoyed it, much better produced than the first I thought. Can’t see the fascination though for the “new moon” clothes I saw in Target today though, what’s with that? I jokingly said to my girl I should definitely get me some of those tights and a shirt… should have seen the look of distaste on her face. Maybe just socks? No. Definitely NOT.

I also finished my layout for the scrap competition and am SO PROUD I got it done. I was up till 3am though last night and swore not to put the computer on till it was done. I was still figuring out what sentiment to put on the card this afternoon before express posting it away. The theme was “What If” and boy that was hard! Thank goodness Wendy came up with a good one or I might still be sitting at my desk. Heaven knows my family are no good at helping me… they couldn’t care less. We needed both a card and a layout, using a page map supplied. I sure enjoyed the process though, and am very happy that I got it done.  I based it on one of my layouts from earlier, using the cuttlebug and have incorporated this into one of the extension classes this term. If you are booked in for extension you are sure to love the page you will create using this technique, late in the term.

I can’t show you the layout, but I am sure there is no harm in a little peek. It was fun to do. Love a  challenge with a deadline. You know me… I’ll always go to the deadline (or beyond) Here’s the pic I used of my beautiful,  capital letters… BEAUTIFUL girl. She didn’t look this glamorous this morning when she crawled out of bed. Ha ha.

Josh is doing ok. I wish I could say he’s fabulous, but he’s ok. Not terrible, not even bad, just ok. It’s been a long recovery and we are all getting through it ok. The taxi rang this morning to see if he was going to school as I was surprised that it hadn’t even crossed my mind. Nope, he wouldn’t be going to school, he wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. I will be taking him back to PMH next week (Lord help me it’d be the 7 week mark) and he will be freed of these monsters on his legs. They are itching and frustrating him no end. He will be very pleased to be free.

I hope his hips have healed ok. I hope with everything I have,  that they are good. That they don’t need to “do” anything else for him. That he will be ok. That he can sit up again. Right now he has a terrific lean on him. That worries me. One leg is much stiffer than the other and one appears longer. So, next week we want to hear the words from the surgeon.. “He has healed as expected, this is good”. And we want the cast gone. As cool as it is to have a “Glow-in-the-dark-cast”.

Not every kid can boast a glow-in-the-dark Leg. Not that Josh can see it. Ha. This photo didn’t come out too well, trust me the glow is more impressive in real life.

As cool as it is… it needs to come off now. Party’s over. Time to go.

How’s he going?

So many people ask me. Thankyou for asking.

He’s doing okay. Pretty sick of it all I am sure… but he’s okay.

He’s got everything he needs. He has his TV. He has his family. He has his bed, and a new and improved mattress. We are borrowing a special care air mattress for him. It’s to stop him getting pressure sores from laying still for so long. I think he’s pretty tired of laying still, not that there is much choice. Even when we take off the wedge and ‘try’ to move his legs he doesn’t like it. But he is not complaining, not NEARLY as much as I would be.

It hurts.

Darn left knee is giving him curry now. Bend stupid knee… bend! Even when relaxed it sticks out straight, and that cast would be heavy for him. Another week of physio and we will have this leg bending like Beckam.

His wounds are healing too (for anyone who is interested in his skin) and for my brother Chris… look away now, surgery site scar coming up.

This is his left hip. They are (his hips) wider than before and look strange to me from front on… he’s a different shape now, I can feel the bone under his skin, but he doesn’t seem to have any pain there.

and the other side. Aha… there is focus on my phone.

Not long now and the wedge will be gone (black bit between his legs, not in these photos) and the casts will be off. He will be kicking the wall alongside his bed again in no time.

5 weeks down and 2 more to go. Over half way… easy now on the downhilll run.