[catalyst]

New thread time ladies.

http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/forums/ind...howtopic=546862

[Mandy1980]

GOLD!!

Thanx CJ & Kristy.

I had an ultrasound on Tuesday, just to check dates, and got a picture of our bubble and a nice strong heartbeat of 168bpm. So all godd. MS is very strong, alot stronger than I had with the boys so am struggling with that, 3 kids, working full time as well as keep a household running, but hey that's life!!!

Hope you are all well!!!

BBL

[LouiseT]

Hi girls, it's been ages since I've popped in! Just a quick one while I go back and read what I've missed.

School almost finished for the year, things getting crazy busy and the usual stuff with family life.

[LouiseT]

OK back now I've caught up. Congratulations Amanda! Another one with four - it's the new black I reckon I hope you have a happy and healthy pregnancy.

How is Eliza? Any progress? How worrying for you all the illnesses she's had, poor little one.

Paris, Hi! Sorry to hear about your separation, but glad to hear you two are handling it well.

Sumara, hi! I can't believe your baby is so big now!

Kristy - have you taken him to a podiatrist? We've just done the rounds with the kids' feet. Turns out Siobhan, Imogen and Joseph are all hypermobile, which means their ligaments are really stretchy and don't hold the foot in the proper position naturally. They need orthotics (ouch, expensive) as they already have bunions forming. Is he "double jointed"? That's what hypermobiity is. Siobhan and Imogen have both been Irish Dancing, and it was their teacher who noticed, and suggested the podiatrist. Anyway, just something to consider. The podiatrist told me that kids who get "growing pains" are usually the kids who have foot problems, and it seems logical to me that it would give you backache.

Apart from forking over a fortune to the paediatric podiatrist, we've also been giving our dentist enough $$ to finance a lovely cruise somewhere tropical. Matthew just had 12 fillings done under GA. Siobhan had the same thing (10) at his age.

We took the kids to the snow in Queenstown in August this year, it was a fabulous holiday! Totally recommend it.

Imogen starts Prep next year - we've just had orientation day, she has the same Prep teacher as her older siblings, which is lovely because she's so familiar with him and the classroom. She is dying to start.

Siobhan goes off to Middle School next year, very exciting!

Joseph - a typical 2 year old, very good speech, very cute and cheeky. He'll be the only one left at home next year!

Matthew - has had a good year. A bullying episode recently, which was dealt with appropriately I feel, but otherwise good. I've really noticed how mature the year 1 kids are now at the end of the year compared with the beginning of the year!

I've been doing my Stampin' Up! business from home, teaching cardmaking classes, selling products and enjoying the creative outlet. Not making any money, but well, it's just a hobby really.

Think I've pretty much covered it! Hope everyone is well. xx L

[dutchy]

PeekaBOOOO!!!
Hi ya girls, it's me, Dutchy. I have no clue if anyone remembers me but it has been more than ages since the last time I dropped in. I remember me promising to drop in more often but didn't keep that promise

So I saw my special DIN-button on the firefox bar and thought "OMG I need to have a look now and give a sign of life". And here it is: I'm alive

How have you all been?? Ow yeah, I should read back I guess... Well, Louise did that for me so I can copy-paste her posting heheheh
To summarize: CONGRATULATIONS to the births of all the new babies!!! CONGRATULATIONS to all of you who have become pregnant again!!! And a million hugs and strength-wishes for all of you who need it at the moment...

Short update on me: I'm doing fine
Short update on the kids: They are also doing fine
Thom is in school now (since September) and he does indeed have some problems there (reading and writing is not what it should be, he has dysgrammatism and dyslexia (or what it's called in English...) and he already notices that he is not as good as "all the others" so we do need professional help here, but he'll get there, I'm confident). Kris is still more than happy in Kindergarten, she's one stubborn, strong-willed 4-year-old I can tell you that. pfiewwww what a lady She has a way of "ordering" things that makes your blood crawl. But she's also such a sweety and doing so well in her development. Her heart (VSD, heart valve problem) isn't making any problems so far, I guess things will be just fine in that area.

We are still living in Austria and will probably for the rest of our lifes. It's lovely here, our home, our garden, the people around us, nature, everything. I still often feel like I'm on holidays here, but I'm actually living here lucky me!! I still have my company in Munich but not doing much over there (still only administrative work), going there to clean up maybe once every 2 months or so. I like my life here, gardening, playing with the kids, art painting, cooking etc. etc. Is nice.

Well, don't know if it works but here some piccies from my kids:




Actually I wanted you all to know that I still think about you DIN-girls over there down under! I wil drop by again, just don't know when ;-)

Lots of love from this part of the world!!!

Louise (Dutchy)


This post has been edited by dutchy: 18/11/2009, 07:51 AM

[LouiseT]

LOUISE! I certainly haven't forgotten you, I was hoping you would come back to update!

Love the photos of your beautiful children. They are just lovely. Thom is so handsome, and Kris is a real beauty. You must be so proud of them. I'm sorry to hear Thom has a few troubles with learning, but it is good that you are already getting him some help. I'm sure his confidence at school will grow and he will flourish now that his issues are being helped.

You sound so very happy with your life right now, I'm so pleased for you. I remember a few years ago before you moved, you were struggling with trying to balance everything while your partner was already in Austria. Now look at you! I'm glad your work allows you the flexibility to enjoy your lifestyle.

I'm not sure I have the right balance yet but you are inspiring me!

I think of you often, and miss you. Reading your post has made me smile.

[dutchy]

Hi Louise!

Ohw that so sweet!!! I actually thought most of you might have forgotten about me by now (I've been so slack, would've understood completely..) I've been missing you too :-) glad I could make you smile.

Yeah, life is pretty good here. Winter's coming up but it's still quite warm (about 15-18 degrees Celcius which is exceptionally warm for mid November). I look forward to the snow as I've bought myself some great new carving ski's from my birthday money and I want to try them on and out :-P

I had a very good conversation with Thom's teacher yesterday which gave me a lot more confidence that things will probably work out somehow.

Well, got to go now, got some art painting to do (for Christmas: my sister-in-law has asked me to make 2 paintings for her little ones. Is a lot of work actually, but fun to do). Maybe I'll show 'em (if I don't forget :-S) when they're ready.

Hope to read a lot more about you girls soon!!!

Lots of Love!

[~CJ~]

Oh wow I wasn't expecting so many posts in a month, this must be a record for a while lol!!

Louise (Dutchy) great to hear from you! Lovely photo of your kids

LouiseT Sounds like everything is going well, hopefully you can start making a little cash from your home business?

Kristy, I am curious about the Podiatrist as well? We are going to see one with Eliza this Friday as she has no arch and I think will need Orthotics (Louise thanks for the heads up on the cost eek!) and I am wondering how much this is contributing to her leg, back pain and Scoliosis?

Thanks for asking about Liza, she is going ok. She had the three lots of Pneumonia requiring hospitalisation and has since seen a respiratory specialist and is for the moment on permanent low dose antibiotics. Not ideal but is doing the trick! When she gets sick we immediately switch to a stronger course of ABs and steroids for her lungs and she is turning around really quickly. This seems to be happening every 3 or so weeks, every time she gets sick it goes to her lungs.

Eliza is booked in to have her Adenoids out and Grommets put in next Monday. Conflicting advice but for the moment the tonsils are staying in, the Respiratory Specialist feels she is too high risk to have it done in the local hospital (no ICU) so we will re-assess later if she needs them out and will organise it in Perth. Hopefully this will be enough and she can keep the tonsils though.

Maddie is great, healthy and enjoying school most of the time. Normal issues and acting like a bit of a pre-teen at the moment lol!

[Mandy1980]

Hi all

Just a quick one to pop in and say

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY TO MY BIG SPUNK, JACKSYN!!!

Great to see a few updates lately. It is so awesome to hear what everyone has been up to. Love the pics Dutchy!!!

Anyways, back to work.

BBL

[SimplySweet]

Hi

Yay some posts

Happy Birthday to all our new 7 yr olds now

Thomas had a low key birthday this year. No party. But we took them out for the day to the beachhouse. He was happy
Jayden had his last week and is now 13 and Brett is 16 next week.I now have 2 teenagers. Lis was 4 in Oct, and Ryan is 2 in January, they are all growing so fast.

Kids are all good. Things pretty busy here.
Lis has finished cheerleading for the year now, just has her gymnastics concert saturday and that is over for the year. 2 of the boys finish school this friday. Brett is currently doing his Yr 10 exams. Jayden still has 1 more week to go after this week. Lis has her break up party at pre-entry kindy on friday. Then they will all be on school holidays until the end of January.
Cricket goes through holidays but everything else stops. Playgroup ends tomorrow.
Jayden graduates next monday so is off to high school next year. He will be in private with the other 2 then, finally (nearly 5 year wait) and Lis is there the year after.
Thomas is doing amazing at school, in Yr 1 but already doing some Yr 2 work. He just loves school. Had an amazing teacher this year (and last) that really helps.
Lis starts kindy next year so has a year of 4 half days before off to school. Ryan is 2 in january, he has some issues so we are onto them, mostly speech atm.

Mandy, Glad all is going along great with bubs, great news

Louise, Thanks for the info. We did ask and have been told atm not to go that path. We seem to know the area of concern now which isn't the spine so will look into that after the mri. I also asked about chiro but also been told not to go that way. Will keep that in mind and get it checked, thankyou
Sounds like the kids are all going great

Of course we remember you Dutchy. SO lovely to hear from you. Gorgeous pics of the kids. You sound so truly happy which is fantastic to hear. Sorry to hear Thom has some issues, seek any support you can get. I have a child with learning issues and it's a hard slog for sure.

Cathryne, Hope Eliza is recovering well. Hope it makes a difference for her. Shame they won't do the tonsils too, Thomas and Lis are sooooooooo much better off without them, different kids. Keep us updated on how everything is going. Big hugs

Well not much time to post anything else, will check by again really soon