Looking back through 2018

I’m sure everyone says the same thing; that the year seemed to pass in a flash.

DH and I were blessed with 3 more grandchildren this year...all girls! 😍

Carrie was born in January, 

Abby in February...

and Meredith in October. 

One of these little darlings has special needs but she is thriving now after some dark moments which entailed emergency flights using the Care Flight helicopter and the Royal Flying Doctor and hospital stays here in the capital. But throughout family and friends have pulled together and provided amazing support to the little family with their first baby. Obviously there are still many hurdles to deal with but each will be dealt with as it is encountered. Hopefully the NDIS will be a help.

DH and I have stepped up our help with babysitting of the 4 here in Brisbane, quite willingly putting other things on hold to help our children out. 

Anthea helping DH clean his golf clubs...

Helping dig up Grandma’s sweet potato crop...


Helping cook...pikelets for morning tea! 

Sometimes the little ones were sick and unable to go to Daycare...😕

But then there were the trips to the library...

And Holly even came to a K4BN Knit and Natter with me! 

We still had time for some travel including a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands and trips to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and a short trip to the Sunshine Coast so DH could play in a golf competition. All the trips within Australia included catch ups with family and friends; always a bonus!

Sadly in September (20th) my beloved cat, Eduardo died 6 weeks after being diagnosed with a cancer under his tongue. 

He knew the end was near and stayed close to me in those last weeks...

He had turned 17 on September 16; a very sad time but I had been really touched when, on Father’s’ Day ( first Sunday in September) all the family came to say their farewells to Eddie...even the ones who don’t really like cats!

He hasn’t been replaced at this stage although I think I might be ready now to perhaps get an older ‘rescue cat’ so we’ll see what the future brings. 

For DH and my birthdays this year, the family clubbed together to pay for a 2 hour session with the lovely photographer who took DsD1’s wedding photos last year. They ( our girls) coordinated everything so all of the family were in Brisbane at the same time and that everyone was wearing similar colours)

And for Christmas they again clubbed together to buy a large print of the whole family... well the whole family in May, Meredith wasn’t born until October 😍. Taken on Shorncliffe Pier

There were a few special birthdays this year too of course; Holly’s first birthday and a few 70th celebrations that we went to in 2018. Next year DH has a special birthday ending in a zero!! 

Happy New Year everyone! Remember Life is what you make it!! 🎉😘

More family news...

My DD2 gave DH and I this big surprise a month or so back and I have had to keep it all a secret until the tests showed all is okay. I knew about this a little ahead  ( well maybe quite a bit before) of the other grandparents but that's a 'mother of the mother's perk' 😉 

A week or so ago DD2 and Adam finally let their respective siblings, and then their friends know of their exciting news. And then Saturday of last week we had the 'Gender Reveal'. What's that you ask? I did know about these events after having heard them mentioned on other people's Facebook pages 😆. Basically friends and family gather and a special cake that has been baked is cut. Inside the cake is either blue or pink...hence the 'revealing of the gender'. DH was heard to mutter some comments about this, but to me anything that gets loved ones altogether for a bit of a soiree, I'm all for it!! 

And so it was that we all gathered at the couple's house. My girl had been craving chocolate so that cake stand in the next photo was put together just for her...on the lower level were some chocolate croissants ( her favourite treat as a teenager) and chocolate brownies, strawberries and grapes in the middle layer and chocolates on the top! 😉

Some people brought gifts...blue and pink! 

One set of grandparents with the happy couple...

Some of 'our mob' 😊

The cake in the photo was made by DD2's friend Nicky. The doctor had given DD2 the gender info on a piece of paper sealed in an envelope. This had been passed on to Nicky who then made the cake. 

It seemed to take forever for the cake to be cut...but at last the moment came. And there were lots of squeals of delight...

I think that by her reaction that DD2 had been hoping for a girl...

But best of all...after 5 years of 'not talking' my two daughters are now reconciled again...and I couldn't be happier. 

And here is another photo that I took that afternoon; DH, baby Anthea, DsD2 and DD1. 

So an exciting year ahead in 2017; a new grand baby in May, DsD1's wedding in July and DD1's wedding in September. 💕💕

Still looking back...this time 27 years ago...

On Sunday I wrote about what I was doing 30 years ago. Now I'll tell you about what I was doing 27 years ago on this night. It was DD1's 3rd birthday of course. Mmmm now I can imagine you're thinking...so?  All will be revealed...

We decided that we would just have a small family dinner for E's birthday with just mum and dad, grandma and her god-parents Pamela and Garry. I had 3 more weeks to go till the due date for my second child so was starting to get tired easily. DD1 and I had made some little party hats for the guests and 'Aunty' Pam had made the birthday cake. Little miss went off to bed about 8 and by 10.30 my husband and I were loading the dishwasher and tidying up. I got to bed by 11pm and promptly fell asleep.

A rare photo showing my 'baby bump'; DD1's 3rd birthday

A sharp pain woke me at 1.30am. I sat up and then realised that my 'waters had broken'...oops!! Things were happening obviously. I woke my husband and then went downstairs to my mother's granny flat to first of all tell her what was happening and secondly to borrow a pair of slippers as I still hadn't bought a pair to go in my 'hospital bag'.
We arrived at the hospital by 2am and I sat in a little office giving my details to a midwife; everything was calm and unhurried. Then she said that perhaps she'd better examine me. When she did she said that I was 8cm dilated...hmm I'd read somewhere that that meant I was in stage 2 labour. All of a sudden things weren't calm any more. Normally in those days when you came into hospital, you had to have an enema (yuck) and a shower and change into their gowns...no time for any of that, they rushed me to a delivery suite.

Then there was a problem...my doctor had slipped away for a week's holiday with his family as no births had been imminent amongst his patients.  That's no problem though...the hospital rang his locum, a specialist. But Dr Lee was also on holidays. So his locum (another specialist) came all the way from Wynumn in the early hours of the morning to deliver the baby of a woman he'd never met before. Dr Smith arrived at 3am. Little Miss DD2 came into the world at 3.20 am Thursday 20/09. She was small...only 6lb 8oz but nevertheless healthy. And it was a very easy birth.

Next day when the family came to visit, Miss 3 suddenly looked so grown up! She proudly told anyone and everyone, ' I've got a new little sitzer; her name is Demphaner (Jennifer)', eventually the baby became known as 'Demphy'.

So my girls have their birthdays a day apart; not how it was meant to be at all!

On this day 30 years ago...

Thirty years ago was a Friday. My first baby was due on the following Monday. All day that Friday I had the compulsion to clean and I did. The vacuum cleaner didn't seem to be working very well, so I convinced my husband that we should go into the city for late night shopping and buy a vacuum cleaner, which we did! (now how mad/idiotic is that?) We lived only 5km from the city and in those days it was easy to find car parking there...but it's still idiotic lol!

We came home with a brand new cleaner, a Hoover I think, and then I made us dinner. And I remember what I cooked, Steak Diane and a tossed salad. After dinner I went to bed, leaving the washing up, as I was quite tired by then. I woke up at about 5 am with abdominal pains, so off to the loo I went. These pains kept coming back and then I decided to see what the time interval was. Hmmm every five minutes..could it be...could I be...???? Husband rang the GP who said that I should go to hospital. I was there and admitted by 7am and at 10 to 1 in the afternoon, DD1 was born.

This photo has become a family favourite; at first I didn't have the knack of folding the nappy so it was small. That means the nappy came to her knee. The little booties were knitted by the grandma of one of my students.

Last night DD1 celebrated her 30th with friends. I've seen the photos on FaceBook and it looks like a wild time was had by all!! lol