Thank You from our Visitors

Last weekend I had a girlfriend and her partners kids come to visit. They were on their school holidays so I thought it would be a great way to fill in an afternoon if they came to look at our little calves. They live in town and don't have that opportunity there.

So after a foggy start to the day, the afternoon greeted us with lots of sunshine. We decided that we would walk down to the shed. Holly was packed into her stroller and my two eager helpers pushed her for me.

We they had an absolute ball down there. I got a bottle of milk so we could hand feed the little calves. There were lots of giggles and squeals of delight from the kids. Even Holly decided that she liked being down there too!

The kids climbed up and over the low fences to the calf pens. Took turns at feeding the babies and basically had an amazing time and loads of fun in the process. They were even happy to let the calves suck their fingers. Holly stuck her hand out and one of the calves nearly sucked in her whole arm haha! She thought it was really funny.

The time went by so fast and soon it was time for our visitors to leave.

The next time I say my friend, she came bearing gifts from the kids. They had made us Thank You cards, after the wonderful time they had on their visit. The cards are so cute and I was really touched by their kind thoughts and funny words.

 

It is amazing how much the small things in life can make the sun shine in a day!

Mum Mum Mum Mum...

Wow what a joyous song to be woken with the other morning. Miss Holly for the first time saying "Mum mum mum" from her cot! I can't really explain how amazing it feels to hear your little one say your "name" for the first time. She has been saying "Dad dad dad" for a while now. Experts say this is an easier sound for little ones to make...still a special thing for Dads to hear I am sure! To watch her work her little mouth into forming the words is such a treat and everytime she does it, it makes my heart warm in a place I never knew I had. She is so precious! Love you baby girl.

She is changing so quickly again at the moment. We had the 9 month Plunket visit last week. She had a glowing report of course, but then again I am totally biast! She now weighs 8.78kgs which is almost double her birth weight now. The Plunket Nurse tells me she has great "covering". Thats the new politically correct word for baby fat haha! Oh please, just say it like it is for goodness sake!

Funny the questions they ask at these appointments, and some are about things that I definately would never think about. Like: Would you say that Holly has olive coloured skin? Hmm have never really given it much thought to be honest. I have noticed that she isn't as pasty white as some of the little ones I know. Both Farmer Brown and I have olive skin, so I guess we could say that she does too. I was then asked how often I fed her pumpkin and carrots. To which I replied she has a little of both most nights but not every night. Why? The Plunket Nurse said that sometimes when little ones eat too much carrot or pumpkin their skin can take on an orange tint! But she agreed with me, that Hollys skin is an olive colour, just like her mum and dad. I also commented that her skin has always been that colour, even before she started on solids. Interesting conversation to say the least. Like I said, things I had never even thought about!

Miss Holly is well on the way to starting to crawl. She can take a few steps across the floor and then falls over. She is so funny to watch. The determination that she has is amazing. Watching her think things through and how she can get them done NOW! Funny! I guess it will soon that I was wishing that she would just stay in one place like she used to. Oh well we can't stop progress thats for sure!

She came out with us on the motorbike on the weekend. It was a beautiful sunny day and none of the cold winds that we have been having. We went and helped Farmer Troy bring home the cows and calves for that day. She was so funny sitting on the back of the bike with me, waving her little hands at the cows!

That night we went up to the Big House to watch the rugby with them. Holly spent most of the night on Grandads knee entertaining him. All of a sudden at the right time in the game, she threw her hands up in the air,waving them above her head, shreaking her head off and clapping her hands at the TV. Was so funny. Impecible timing my baby girl has! She continued to do this throughout the rest of the game, to the amusement of all of us!

Today we purchased a swing set for her, but we are keeping it for her 1st birthday as a present for her. However we did also get another little swing seat that we have attached to the pergola on the deck for her. She had her first go in it this afternoon and really loved it! Squealed her head off as usual. She is going to a high flyer when she is older thats for sure!

 

Let the fun and games begin...

Sick for the first time!

So our little Miss Holly is having her first real bought of sickness. She had a high temperature on Monday that I was managing to control with Pamol. By the afternoon it was back up again. With that and the fact that she was not her normal happy self I decided to take her to the Doctor.

Unfortunately sometimes knowing or having a little bit of medical knowledge can be a real pain in the bum. I have never wanted to be one of those nurotic mothers that I read about or have had to deal with when on ambulance duty. I had been keeping an eye on her resp rate, temperature and heart rate throughout the day. I wasn't overly concerned but she was just not her happy little self. Very clingy and didn't want to be put down or leave my side most of the day. She had even fallen asleep on me a couple of times during the day which is very unusual for her to do these days.

I decided that I had better take her to the Doctor just incase there was something that I was missing. She didn't have a rash or red ears. She had a slight dry cough and her lungs sounded clear on ascultation. Didn't really want to risk anything dramatic happening during the night so off we went to the Doctors.

I must say that I was a little disappointed with the examination that Doctor gave Holly. Now I am but a humble Emergency Medical Technician and certainly no Doctor, but don't you actually have to look at your patient inorder to assess them? The Doctor listened to her chest and took her temperature all be in incorrectly. She didn't even look over Holly's body at all. She did ask me is she had any rashes, to which I answered "no" but I still think she could/should have looked.

Anyway we were sent home with the comment of "she will be fine, give her Pamol for the temperature and keep up her fluids".

I stayed home from Ambulance Duty Monday and Tuesday nights to look after Little Miss. Her temperature was back to normal the next day and she was back to her usual happy self.

Yesterday (Wednesday) when I got her up and changed her in the morning I noticed that she had some very small spots on her face and torso. They were just like little red dots. No puss or ooze coming from them. Hmm I thought to myself...wonder what this could be. She still had no temp and everything else seemed to be "normal" for her. Decided that I would just keep an eye on her for the day and see what she was like the following day.

She woke this morning with the same number of spots and no change to the spots. Again no temp or change that concerned me. However I know that spots are not good so off to the Doctors we went again.

I think the Doctor was quite surprised to see us again after only a couple of days. This time, funny enough, we got the works in the examination department! Clothes off, thorough look over of her little body. Ears checked, temperature taken, lungs listened to etc. Much better I thought to myself.

Doctor seems to think that it is a mild case of Chicken Pox. She hasn't been around anyone who has been sick. She isn't in daycare so it couldn't have come from there. She was with her little mate on the weekend and he does go to daycare...so maybe it was him? Who knows. Nothing can be done anyway as it is a virus and will run its course.

As am Ambulance EMT it is hard not to over react with little kids. They can compensate for such a long time and then they can crash hard and fast. This is fresh in my mind after a case a few weeks ago when we went to a cardiac arrest of a 4 month old who died. Really drove home to me how quickly these little buggers can deteriorate quickly. Thats why I decided that I would take her to the Doctors now. I would rather go and it be nothing, rather than reacting too late and it becoming very serious. Afterall it is free so why not take advantage of that if not anything else!

And so the madness begins...

So we had our first calf for the season born on Wednesday 10th July. A couple of days early but otherwise not unexpected! Farmer Brown came in from work that night to say that the first little had been born. Now we have six new babies!

Today was the first day of milking twice a day. From now on it will only get busier for us. No more weekends off and more time here working our butts off! Well Farmer Brown working his butt off anyway haha!

Holly and I took a walk down to the calf shed this morning to check out the new arrivals. They seem to be settling in nicely. She didn't seem too impressed with them but I of course thought that they were really cute. You can judge for yourself...

 

The Best Laid Plans

So we decided that we would take off down to Mokau to the Inlaws bach for the weekend. We thought that we would make the most of our weekend off as calving is due to start next weekend. This means that is will probably be the last weekend away we get until after calving has calmed down.

We took our time getting down there. It is only 1 hour from the farm. I had discussed with Farmer Brown beforehand that we would just stay at the bach for the afternoon. Go down and spend Saturday in New Plymouth and then head home when we were ready to on Sunday. Previously (before we had Holly) we used to rush down before lunch. Throw all our gear out and head to New Plymouth, shop, catch a movie then head back to the bach for a sleep. Saturday we would go back to New Plymouth and do all the things we didn't get to do the day before. Then back for a sleep and head home to the farm on the Sunday.

We enjoyed a fabulous lunch in Pio Pio at Fat Pigeon Cafe. I had Chicken Chips and Curly Fries. Farmer Brown had the usual Eggs Benedict. Was busy as usual there but the service is always great and your food arrives pretty quick.

It was a beautiful day when we arrived in Mokau. You can tell it was beautiful as we could see the top of Mount Taranaki! You wouldn't normally even know the mountain was there any other day. We unpacked and settled in for the afternoon.

Miss Holly wasn't feeling the best and I fear that I may have shared my cold with her. I had been unwell for a couple of days myself. But you know what us Mums are like, you just carry on!

She had been sneezing on and off all afternoon. I had also noticed that her little nose was running down her face. Thankfully only clear snot so no infection - yet I hope!

She was a bit unsettled and only napping for about half and hour at a time. Normally she will have a big sleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Farmer Brown went and got us fish and chips for our dinner while I fed Miss Holly. She wouldn't go to sleep and I could just tell it was going to be a long night. I must have known something by that stage.

I dosed her up on Pamol before bed but again she was up and crying within half and hour. We decided to crash on the couch while Farmer Brown slept soundly in the other room. We were up pretty much ever hour on the hour for the rest of the night. Her poor nose was blocked and she was having trouble breathing, which is why she was waking.

Anyway I decided that it was time to go back to the farm once morning came around. I was so over it. Really tired and not feeling well myself. As usual Farmer Brown was helpful self NOT! He managed to do as little as possible packing things us and I managed to most of it with Miss Holly crying on my shoulder! Poor little Miss, not her fault that she is sick.

So we are back at the farm. Miss Holly had her bottle and lunch then hit the hay. She is still asleep as I type. Am not surprised as she didn't get much sleep last night thats for sure. Poor little darling! Farmer Brown decided that he would go to Hamilton for the afternoon. Pissed me off a bit as I am left here on my own again looking after our baby girl. But then I thought it was a great idea as I could have a nap myself to try and catch up on sleep that I didn't get last night.

So I am guessing it will be awhile before we get another break away. But thats okay in my books. Might get Farmer Brown to look at Miss Holly for a couple of hours tomorrow and go and have a coffee with one of my mates in Te Awamutu.

Happy holidays...well maybe next time haha!

To Snore or Not to Snore...

So I don't know if I have ever mentioned it but Farmer Brown has a wicked snoring problem. Normally I just put up with it and a quick jab to his ribs generally results in him turning over and the quiet resumes.

I don't know what has changed. Maybe it was the arrival of our baby girl and the fact that sleep is of a premium now. But the snoring was getting so bad that Farmer Brown has been sleeping in the spare room at the other end of the house. The snoring is so bad that I can still hear him from down there!

We decided to investigate some options for fixing this. Off to the GP we went. He said that he would refer us to the ENT specialist in Hamilton. We got our appointment and off we headed. The Doc was really great, very informative and confidant that he would be able to either better the situation or fix it completely.

Farmer Brown would need to have to simple proceedures. First they would work on his soft palet and uvula (dingle dangle at the back of your throat). The Doc would reshape/reduce the uvula as well as increase the opening in the soft palet on either side of the uvula. This would create a bigger space for air to pass through when Farmer Browns tongue relaxes and drops to the back of his throat. This would be a half hour proceedure and would be painful afterwards, however strong pain relief would be given for us to take home and use.

Proceedure date arrived and off we headed to Hamilton with much hope. I didn't even have time to leave the surgery rooms before Farmer Brown was back out from having the proceedure done. He looked pretty good, if a little groggy, but that was to be expected. We would return in a week for a post op checkup.

Home to bed he went to have a rest for the remainder of the day. Loaded up on pain relief he slept the afternoon away.

So has it worked or not? Well that remains to be seen! I must admit that I am a little disappointed with the results as they are at the moment. He is still snoring and sleeping in the spare room. I am hoping that as the swelling goes down that the snoring will reduce and it will either become a lot quieter or stop altogether.

It has been 2 weeks since the proceedure was done and I must admit that some nights the snoring is little or none at all but other nights it is just like before the proceedure was done. We are to return to the Doc towards the end of the month for the second preceedure. This being to have to quote the paperwork: to have his turbines reemed! This will hopefully encourage Farmer Brown, who is a habitual mouth breather, to breath through his nose more and thus reduce the snoring issues.

We look forward to returning to have the final proceedure done and to see if it finaly has the results we are looking for!

A Week With Family

We have just come to the end of one of the best weeks this year so far. My brother and his wife were over visiting from Melbourne. They spent the first week of their holiday down in the South Island staying with our Mum. Then the flew into Auckland where Miss Holly and I collected them and brought them back to our farm where they would stay with us for a week.

This trip was exciting as last year they got to meet my "bump" while we were over in Melbourne and this time they got to me their neice Miss Holly for the first time!

Well you would have thought that they had all known each other for the whole 9 months that Holly has been with us. They were all like long lost friends. No stranger danger with my kid haha! I think that Uncle Balls and Aunty A nearly wore out the camera's on their phones with the amount of photos that were taken.

What was sweet about the trip too was that it was purely a come stay with us and get to know Holly. No need to do tours or day trips to see the sights and sounds of the local areas. As both Uncle Balls and Aunty A used to live in NZ there was just no need for any of that. Of course we did do a day trip to Rotorua to visit an old haunt of Uncle Balls from his famous mountain biking days. We had lunch at Fat Dog Cafe which is just as amazing as the last time that I was there! We also did a couple of trips to the big smoke of Hamilton, again to check out some old cafes that they used to enjoy. We also did a drive by of some of the houses that we had all lived in at some stage in Hamilton. That was quite fun, but I am not quite sure what people thought seeing us pull up, stop briefly to take a photo and then speed off again haha! At least the Police didn't catch up with us!

It was with sad hearts that we took Uncle Balls and Aunty A back to Auckland to catch their flight back home. We are now thinking that maybe I could be really brave and take Holly over there next year for a holiday. Not quite sure if I really want to take a little one on a plane trip but I would be stupid not to take advantage of the fact that she is "free" until the age of 2 years. Like I say, we will have to wait and see what happens there!

Holly sure had a great time meeting and making friends with Uncle Balls and Aunty A. I know that she made a special bond with them that will continue forever.

We look forward to seeing them both again soon xxx