7th August - the day I disconnected the Internet access to the PlayRoom TV

The boys have their own playroom - it is a Dining Room, but we don't entertain much, so it was pointless having a lovely dining room all set up, and toys EVERYWHERE else in the house.

SO, last year, after watching Tarzan OR The Jungle Book on DVD 1578936million times on the TV in the lounge (aka parents space), we put a TV up in the playroom, connected to a DVD player - and 24 hours later the TV blew up.

Right, so, bought a new TV, which enabled us to link to our WiFi in the house - ooooooooooo, awesome!  Promptly linked to Google Movies, and Netflix - DONE - kids can watch lovely movies that I control on the remote.
Sadly, smartypants kids, figured out how to use the remote (I didn't teach them, I wanted C.O.N.T.R.O.L forever) - and found out how to pick other Netflix kids things.

THEY.  WERE. OFTEN. RUBBISH - Baby Shark, doo, doo, doo, dadoo, doo, lalalala 

but sometimes were interesting - Dinosaurs and Animals, and learning stuff ............. and then

They figured out the YouTube channel!
(I have been on many many Sony TV Boards trying to find out how to remove all options except what I want to no avail)
It became a ONLY after dinner - you can watch it, and I set up the parental control settings, so should be safer - it was and it wasn't.  YouTube Kids channel is not an "app" on the TV, and controlling madly, I kept erasing all history, etc so they could not watch again and again, and be linked across to other things accidentally.

To be honest, I left it longer than I should have - as having them watch TV sometimes just gave me some space to make dinner, do washing, hide in the cupboard, do a marathon (ahahahah) without actually having to do anything but shout, ask them to share, and stop fighting.
It was easy to allow them to watch things, and they did learn things like :

"Did you know that manta rays and stingrays are different?  Manta rays don't have stingers" (Abel)

plus lots of other cool things .............

The TV - controlled and changed one of the boys.  It was all he wanted to do, he would cry about the remote, about not watching it, about turning it off, and his personality became HORRID ..... the other, didn't really care either way, but decided to also complain and carry on about the Remote and him having it "zero" times in the past 30 seconds ........

So, on Monday morning, unable to sleep, at 4am, I went into the playroom and turned off the WiFi setting - when the boys woke up, we told them it was broken, and only DVD's work now......... and waited for the tantrum ............ nothing ............ just said "Oh", and found a DVD to watch whilst eating breakfast before Kinder.  Off they went, and I sat back and went "huh" ........

Of course I realised during the course of the day they now cannot watch Brave Wilderness - with Coyote Peterson - which they liked and learnt things from, or The Lion Whisperer
 - but also Google Movies - which had all the NEW movies on it - like Moana, Sing, Trolls ...... which they watched at least once a week.
I went out, and bought the DVD's just in case

The boys came home from Kinder, and instead of "mummy quiet time", we now have "Mum, can we paint / draw / play SNAP / do puzzles / play matching games / go out to Daddy's office and play computer (MUmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm the computer isn't working) .......... but no complaints about the TV.

Win Lose?

They are however, playing so nicely and not fighting, but doings things together and apart .... perhaps that is just Day 1?

Dinner at Mum last night, and they lay together on the floor and watched a show before we headed back home.

Today is Day 2, let's see how we go?

Exercise ...

Rightio - it is time I talked about this.  My inability to get back into exercise.

Now, don't take this the wrong way, I LOVE exercising!  Gym, knocking myself out with a PT, walking the dog, walking ......... anywhere! 

However the extreme lack of sleep, early morning awakenings, heading to work, coming home from work (in order to leave early, I take a short lunch break), making dinner, eating dinner, doing washing, putting little ones to bed, making MORE dinner, cleaning up, hanging up washing, doing more washing, a husband who owns his own business and works long hours and weekends ....... somehow it seems I don't have the TIME for exercise.

Someone said to me awhile ago that I am not trying hard enough to fit exercise into my new life.  (Needless to say, that person and I are no longer speaking - I would like him to last one FKN day here at Twinsville!!!).  I did get back into exercise last year - I was at the Gym at 4 / 4:30am in the morning 3 times a week.  It felt great getting back into it ........... until one night I had two hours sleep, and still got up to train.  YES, I went, and YES it was hard ........ but that night I hit the wall and got so sick I couldn't train again for two weeks.

A very good friend said to me sleep is more important at this time, and I should not "beat myself up" (thanks Lisa), but when you HATE what you see in the mirror each day, it is hard NOT to feel bad about not doing any exercise.

So here I sit, in study at 10:30 at night wondering HOW and when I will finally get some excercise back into my life .......... until then, I guess I should get some sleep.

SLEEP - Ahhhhhhh yes, that is what I had before the TWINS and before Spencer decided that waking up at about 12:30am (since we returned from holiday) is what should happen each and every night.

OK - PITY PARTY OVER.  :-)

Fear ....

Last night I learnt all about FEAR.  I also learnt that I did pay attention in that First Aid class I did last year. I also learnt that in a crisis, I CAN be calm .....

Yesterday was a fairly typical day with the boys.  We played, ate and slept ..... and night time came, into the PJ's they went, with the dilemma I have lately about them being "TOO COLD LATER IN THE EVENING".  So, I make sure they have enough layers on to be warm later ...

Spencer was a little warm to touch, and had had a fever earlier in the day which Panadol helped.  I checked on him a few times, he seemed ok .... and headed off to bed to catch up on the days news/emails, etc.

10:47pm - an almighty SCREAM emits, and I bolt out of bed to find Spencer shaking.  I yanked him out of the dark room, rushed him into the main bedroom, to see my lovely boy convulsing, twitching, eyes blank, all stiff .... and foaming at the mouth.  Yes, as I type this I am in tears, and YES, I hope I NEVER EVER experience it again.

10:48pm - dialling 000 -  as I talk to them, and ask for ambulance, we removed all Spencer's clothing except his vest, and still, he was convulsing on the bed.  It is truely the hardest thing I have ever seen, and can still hear him trying to suck in air.  We estimate he convulsed for about 5/6 minutes before calming down, panting, still not focused ...... before he turned again and vomited.  Still shaking, he started screaming and crying.
All I remember is the lady on the phone telling me to be calm for him, talk to him, reassure him .... just be calm.

Thankfully, the paramedics arrived, and by this time Spencer had stopped shaking, was simply lying still, not really focused, but no longer out of it.
We (Spencer and I) were taken to the Emergency Dept and they observed him overnight - took blood, tried to book Spencer into the hospital for observation (which everyone but the DR thought was unecessary), but eventually let me take him home at 9am.  He is on Panadol every 4 - 6 hours, and tonight his temperature is normal.

What happened was that Spencer had a Febrile Convulsion.  He COULD have it again, but I truly hope not.  It is when he has a fever, and it spikes so high (38+) and he can't cool down (refer back to my earlier comment of ME dressing them warmly IN CASE the got cold later)

It was terrible, horrible, awful .... and I wonder if I could have avoided it if I had just let him get cold, and covered him up in the early hours  ....

Tonight, he can get cold ......... I don't care, I'll get up to cover him.

Thank you 000, Paramedics and the Emergency Dept at Sunshine Hospital.
Thank you GOD.

Later
Me

Play Centre musings ...

An experience today has got me so riled up that it made me want to BLOG!!! OMGawd - it's been a while. Pre-baby boys it seems. Of course, it's because I have NO TIME!! Anyway, today I took the little munchkins to the playcentre up the road. We've been before, and they love it. It was nice and empty when we arrived, except for one little turd ...er, boy, and his Mum with her new little baby girl. In go my munchkins .... to the little fenced in play area, and so it begins.

Little turd ...er, boy decides to stand in the way of the ball pit. No problem, the munchkins do something else. Eventually, Spencer Sticky-Nose decides to crawl across a hump shaped thing, and this little turd ... er, boy, waits until Spencer gets to the top, and pushed him aside. Spencer shrugs it off, and goes to play with toys on the other side. Little turd ...er, boy decides that he is going to play with X toy, and Spencer decided he also wanted to play with that (of course!). There was pushing and shoving, so I picked up Spencer, and we moved over to play with trucks and ramps, etc. Well BLOW ME DOWN, if the little turd dropped his toy, and proceeded to SIT IN THE MIDDLE OF ME and Spencer and the Trucks! Sooooooooooooooooooooooo, we moved over to the X toy ....... and the little turd runs over and shoves us away from it. Sooooooooooooooooooooooo, we moved over the the trucks again ........... and he did the same thing again.

Now the Mum is sitting there watching, saying sweet FUCK ALL, watching little precious turd boy do this, I am all for sharing, if the little guy was lonely and wanted to play, but this shoving, non-toy-sharing, little A$$ was being a selfish prick of a kid.

I picked up Spencer, took Abel's hand and moved them away to the ball pit. My play date arrived, and her and I, and her little one had a lovely time, .... when he suddenly appeared again, inside a small cubby house, where my two munchkins were. Spencer came out ....... Abel was still in there, and the little turd pushed Abel to get him out. Not just once, but twice. I was right there, and said to turd boy "Stop pushing him. That's not nice". I helped Abel out and left turd kid in there. We all continued playing ...

Imagine my surprise, when I was getting the boys lunch ready, when I see her (all packed up and ready to go) walking out past me. Her little baby girl was smiling, so I said Hi to her (because I am PATHETIC with smiling kiddies). She looks at me and says:

TBM (Turd Boy Mum) : You had no right to speak to my son like you did.
MM (Munckin Mum, that's me) : errrrrr?
TBM : You growled at him
MM : errrrrrrrrrr?
TBM : You growled at him, and you are going to give him nightmares
MM : Errrrrrrrrrrrr? Pardon?
TBM : Yes, you told him DONT PUSH HIM in a growly voice. That'll give him nightmares ...
MM : Really?
TBM : Yes, and your kids need to learn to share
MM : Hahahahahahahaha, You are kidding me? Were you watching YOUR son?
TBM : Hurmphhhh
 MM : YOUR son needs to learn to share! ... and I walked away. She stood for about 5 seconds, and glared back at me, then walked off.

Now, I HATE confrontation, but have realised that with my boys, I am going to have to start mastering the art of dealing with F*#kWit Mums!

I have decided she is that Mum who never says NO, has a naughty corner, and asks Turd boy 50 times to "Please stop it" with no bloody consequences if he DOESN't stop it.

OK RANT OVER
Playing with muchkins time
Over and Out
 Growly Mum :-)

Hospital musings ....

Hi, still here :-)

My Dr is back from holiday tomorrow, and I will see him here to find out what the go is - so nothing to report yet, OK?

Moving onto musings :

Musing 1 : Is it permissble to punch a Midwife in the head when she wakes you up at 5:45am to take your blood pressure?
Musing 2 : WTF - isn't a hospital supposed to be QUIET?
Musing 3 : Shift change at 9:30pm handover, and the NEW shift comes into the room to see you at 11pm???
Musing 4 : The steriod injections I am on prevent you sleeping - errrrr, thanks, I ALREADY have that problem, didn't need it to be HARDER!
Musing 5 : In HUGE letters on the board 'REST" - can I point you back to Musing 2 & 3?

Anywho, here I am. Reading my book, strolling around - because I mean seriously, who of you is expecting me to sit still? I already have a notation in my chart "not in room" when they came in for something.

Babies are fine and moving about, they like to play up when the monitoring machine is on - you know, moving AWAY from the listening pad so you can't hear anything, and then the machine gets left on LONGER.
I have already told them when they get out, they will be beaten - I don't care WHOSE fault it was :-)

Oh Oh

Musing 6 : What is the nurses obsession with "what names have you picked out". I almost said Bismarck and Guthro - just to see (all my South African friends are rolling around on the floor now) :-)

OK, might be more later, but for now, that's all.

Cheers
Me

Hospital it is .....

Rightio - so 1st March and off for a scan, that I waited over an hour to have as apppointments pushed in front of mine were people who were LATE LATE, and so they shoved me back. YAY - not!!

ANYWAY - 35 weeks 6 days today, and the bubs are 2.5 and 2.7kg, which I think/thought was great. After scan, upstairs to Dr Vikki - and I am late for that appointment due to scan. Blood pressure taken - absolutely fabulous 120/80 - so doesn`t reallly explain the blurred vision or the spots before my eyes. I tell the Dr I feel `ick all the time, hot face, and the radiologist calls and there is alot of `uh huh, oh, reallly, uh huh, hmmmm` on the phone. Turns out that the cord blood for each baby is moving slower than they`d like and the babies have grown slower than they would have liked (HELL I think they are big enough, right????) So, suggestions of steriod injections, today and tomorrow, and blood pressure checks ...... and then Dr deciides to be safe and put me in hospital for fetal monitoring, and injections, and blood tests, protein tests - so here I am.

Lucky I brought my bag with me :-)

So, I have done the bloods, had the steroid injection, started the whole protein test thing, and here I sit. Unfortunately not in a private room yet - sharing with someone, but the curtain is closed and I have my iPod in, iPad open ..... Once I have the bubs, I move to a private room.

John has gone home to collect my books and stuff, as I didn`t bring everything along,, so blog it is ....... ready to be bored everyone??? :-) I am singing on the inside - boogie woogie in the bed ......lalalalalalalala

First night pain free!!!

Night One:
The good dog (that is Murphy) stayed in his crate with no complaints!! However the medicine he is on makes him need to wee more. Now when I say wee more, I mean he wees for about 2 minutes!!! I kid you not!!! I looked online and that is a side effect of the drug, so when he needs to go you are outside awhile!!

He seems to cope well with being in the crate, whinges abit but so far not as bad as I thought. Of course, now I have said that he will probably whinge all night!

I got up once in the night to let him out and he went back into his crate no problem when we came back in. The only difference is that he sleeps differently in the crate. He does not curl up in a ball like normal (which was when he woke in pain)..

Fingers crossed that this rest is all he needs

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