Category: Brizzie

And today we saw Grandpa!

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Chance really put on a lovely show and it was lovely to see Grandpa with a smile on his face.

It’s been a very tough time for him, understandably, and it was great to see that he is being so well looked after. He is currently in a respite care facility and although he misses Nanny terribly and would rather be in his own home, he is doing as well as can be expected.

We saw Nanny again today and she actually opened her eyes and was reaching out to us which was really great. It’s still early days and things can change rapidly and significantly but we’re all hoping for the best.

I saw Nanny today

/ Renae / 1 Comment

It was hard. Really hard. I haven’t had to face this sort of situation – sickness of a loved one – many times in my life. In fact, I can probably count on one hand. But today I saw a woman lying in bed, hooked up to leads and tubes, and I knew it was Nanny, but it wasn’t. This is how I remember Nanny:

I keep trying to reason with myself that Nanny is 87 (88 next month) and has had a great life and and and… but it doesn’t make it easier. This woman has been in my life in so many different ways from the day that I was born. And to see her this way is breaking my heart.

We don’t really know what the prognosis is at this stage; we just have to take it one day at a time. So that’s what we’ll do.

(Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers and texts.)

Introducing…

/ Renae / Leave a comment
Jett Alexander
My dear cousin Amy and her wonderful Hubs Andrew had a beautiful baby boy on the 16th of June. Everyone is doing well and I got to have some lovely new baby cuddles. Congratulations guys, and I look forward to the day that Jett and Chance get to play together! I’m sure they’ll be great friends.

We’re in Brizzie

/ Renae / Leave a comment

So Chanbe and I arrived in Brizzie on Wednesday, and unfortunately my little guy is sick sick sick. Just a cold, but a nasty one with a horrid cough that’s been keep me him (okay, both of us) up all night. Not much to be done other than give lots of fluids and lots of cuddles, which there are plenty of both.

Anyway, just wanted to touch base and say hi and if this post is a bit random, you can blame the lack of sleep. Also the fact that blogger has changed the layout of posting and it’s messing with me a bit. Just something else new to learn… Oh! And my dear cousin Amy had a little baby boy the last night. SO EXCITED!!! Can’t wait to meet the little man. Congrats Amy & Andrew on the arrival of Jett Alexander x x x

30 hours

/ Renae / Leave a comment

In the last 30 hours, as well as having 7 (interrupted) hours of sleep, I have been busy in the kitchen making the following:

Shepherd’s pie
Bolognaise
Lamb stew (slow-cooked)
Chicken stew (slow-cooked after the lamb)
Pasta bake
Orange polenta cake

Oh yes. I’m taking the next month off cooking. Maybe not baking though. I may whip up a batch of either chocolate or oatmeal cookies tomorrow, depending on time. I still have to pack for Brisbane, as well as send a few emails and run a couple of errands, and spend time with Hubs before we depart early Wednesday morning. Unlike last time, we will drive from Wang to Melbourne airport. The thought of all the “legs” was too much this time around, and I’m relieved about that decision.

So much to do! But right now, it’s sleepy time. And by that, I mean I’ll be sleepy while Chanbe keeps me up 🙂

Pick of the pics from Brisbane

/ Renae / 2 Comments
With Nanny & Grandpa

Gran & Grumpy (I am not going to make a “pull my finger” joke.)
Ouma & Chanbe
With Poppy

With Aunty Kturtle & Uncle Khicken
With his Nan
Aunty June & Nanna
With Uncle Benny & Mama
With cousin Josie

And Aunty Heather
And cousin Nikki,
cousin Sarah, 
and cousin Amy! 
Hubs is here telling me that that might be enough photos of Chanbe for now… 🙂

Hangin’ with the Chan Chan Man

/ Renae / Leave a comment

The Chan Chan Man is currently occupied with the babysitter

(this video was taken a little while ago, but you get the idea) so it gives me an opportunity to blog! FINALLY!!! Our trip up to Brisbane was just fabulous. Our little man was an absolute star with the travel – the trip back was just as successful as the trip up! It was so lovely to see our family and friends and everyone just went nuts over Chance which was very nice.

I took loads of photos but I haven’t gotten around to downloading them yet, as downloading photos at our place is a little more complicated than you might think. You see, we don’t have a PC, only a laptop (actually, we have 3 laptops and a tablet PC) and the one we use to dowload our photos on to our hard drive is Hubs’ tablet which he takes off the docking station to work in the loungeroom/take to uni etc, so in order to download the photos, I have to wait til Hubs isn’t using the computer, put it on the docking station, plug it in, plug in the hard drive, put the memory card in the computer, try and remember how to download the photos and voila! Easy! 🙂 Maybe it’ll happen tomorrow…

Life has been treating us very well. Chance has learnt some fun new tricks like squealing and poking his tongue out, and he has recently found his feet and is currently trying to put them into his mouth which is super cute. Hubs is gearing up for a big couple of months with exams in June that cover all the work for the last year. Chance and I are cheering him on! And as for me, my mother’s group is going wonderfully well, and I am keeping myself busy with other fun things like baking, shopping, (window shopping that is) going to the gym, and being a latte mum.

All in all, life is good.

We have arrived!

/ Renae / 1 Comment

After 6 “legs” (walk, bus, train, bus, plane, car) Chance and I arrived safe and sound in Brisbane. And not that I want to brag, or jinx myself for the trip home, but our little man was an absolute dream. He slept on the bus, then had a feed and sleep on the train, then happily made lots of cute noises on the shuttle bus to the airport, then slept for pretty much the whole flight. Honestly, it was so wonderful. I had hoped this would happen, and I think I did a good job of keeping calm and relaxed so he could follow my lead. Once we got into the car on the way home, he had had enough and lost it. And I was absolutely fine about it, as I was feeling pretty shattered and disorientated as well so I really couldn’t blame the little guy.

He fell asleep in the car at the top of our street but woke up for party time once we got him out of the car. I think he finally went to sleep about 11. Monday night was a tough night for both of us, with Chance waking up every hour or 2, so we were both pretty tired starting out yesterday. I wondered if I was in for the same fate last night, but he only woke up twice, and then at 6am (7am Wang time) it was time to wake up for good. At 6:30am, Grumpy came and took him for a cuddle and gave me another few hours of wonderful sleep. I feel so much better now. He’s a bit unsettled today but I’m sure he’ll be back to his usual self in the next day or two.

It’s really nice to be back in Brizzie catching up with rellies. He’s at such a lovely age and it’s nice to share this time with family. He’s currently having a bit of a scream so I’d better go and see if I can help out, although Gran and Grumpy seem to have it covered!

Visit

/ Renae / Leave a comment

This time tomorrow, Chanbe and I will be starting our journey to Brisbane. We are catching the bus to Seymour, train to Melbourne, shuttle to the airport, plane to Brisbane and will be picked up and taken back to Gran and Grumpy’s with a stopover at Ouma’s place. I’m getting tired just thinking about it! I really want to share this time in Chance’s life with family and friends in Brisbane so when Virgin had cheap flights, I couldn’t resist.

I think it will officially be the longest I’ve ever spent away from Hubs 🙁 I know quite a few people who spend weeks and/or months away from their partners and I have no idea how they do it, other than the fact that they are deeply committed to their relationships and I have so much respect and admiration for you guys (you know who you are.)

So if you’re around I’d love to see you! I haven’t scheduled any posts while I’m away but I’m hoping to have a bit of time to blog while I’m there. We’ll see how that goes…