Jades End Of School Program

This seems to be the only way I can get y'all to see Jade in her end of school program. This happened a week ago already but emailing the file was a problem since it was so big so I am trying this. Not sure how the quality is going to turn out but it is worth giving it a try ... hold thumbs and turn up your sound. If it is very unclear, Jade is the one in the center in the long pink dress. I wish y'all knew her voice and that the sound was better because you can definitely hear her above the rest ... definitely another proud parent moment !!!

Click the play button twice if it doesn't run the first time ...



If you want to follow along with the words in case you can't make them out they are as follow, or I think those are the words :-)

Our God is a great big God
Our God is a great big God
Our God is a great big God
And he holds us in his hands X2

He's higher than a skyscraper
He's deeper than a submarine
He's wider than the universe
and beyond my wildest dreams
And he's known me and he's loved me
Since before the world began
How wonderful to be a part of God's amazing plan !

And so on ...

She is also riding her bicycle without her training wheels and I need to load that on here too if this works, again holding thumbs. Please let me know what you think ... leave a comment in the comment section just below this, click the link if you don't know how to do it and it will walk you through it :-)

Hope you enjoyed that ;-) Thanks.

And It Gets Worse !!!

Oh well just when I thought poor Jade had had her week of the wars and it was almost over, yesterday morning, (Thursday) Jade woke up around 6am crying, she said her ear was sore, now knowing Jade and how high her pain tolerance is, when she says something is sore, you know it is really sore !!! So we gave her a good dose of Tylenol and she went off to sleep for another hour then woke up as normal for the day to get started.

I phoned and made her an appointment with the doctor but in the meantime had to attend her last day of school program which she looked like she was now up for. Well she looked like a little angel (mommy's angel) and sang so beautifully but the entire time whenever I looked over her way, she was tugging at her ear. So after she did her part in the program, I whisked her home for another dose of pain medicine and then it was off to the doctor.

Well 8 weeks ago we were in there with an ear infection in her right ear and well this was the right ear too and now she had a blister on her eardrum, which apparently is very painful, poor thing. I thought we were over the ear infections when she had her tubes put in at golly, I can't remember, round about 18 months I think or was she two ... I guess I should know these things, bad mother that I am :-( But anyway, apparently ear infections is not something you out grow so this might be a never ending thing with us, but I pray not. So we have antibiotics for the next 7 days. She had a bad afternoon yesterday, high fevers and just sleepy so she had a good long sleep after we got back from the store and woke up feeling a bit better.

Today she almost seems good as knew, running around here like a cheerleader, it's amazing how from yesterday she is so different. I asked the doctor yesterday if the blister would pop and she said probably not but today she has a lot of liquid coming out her ear so I phoned them back and they said it probably did pop but at least some of the pressure has now been released which is why she probably feels so much better.

Anyway this being the Memorial Weekend it's a BIG POOL weekend and well we now have no swimming for 7 days which absolutely is awful, we had two pool parties to go to which now we will have to pass on. I wouldn't take her anywhere near a pool and have her watch others swim while she can't especially with her being the little fish she is. So I guess we will have a quiet weekend, actually if Jade stays feeling well we will be off to Speedstreet tonight which is the big Nascar celebration we have here once a year, just before the big race on Sunday, I think it's Sunday, my Nascar friends will shoot me for not knowing that LOL !!! Speedstreet is always fun but the past two years it rained on the day we went which really wasn't as fun, still hot but not fun. It looks like we have perfect swimming weather for the next 7 days so come on y'all pray for it to get cold and to rain LOL only kidding !!!

At least with us going to the doctor she got her finger checked at the same time, the doctor said it is healing well but to keep it covered and also out of water for the next 4 odd days so you see, things really happen for a reason I guess. Jade is a trooper though, nothing brings her down which is why her being the way she was yesterday was so sad :-(

Kathy, that bath bubble blower and karaoke is from the Lakeside Collection, I think it is www.lakeside.com I love them !!!

Oh and on a last note, my mom went and had her stitches out today and she said it was horrid and extremely sore but thankfully that is over. I think my dad thinks it is her punishment for making him clean so much around the house, stuff she can't do, shame the old man is taking strain LOL but like the typical man, when my mom is better and she takes over again, he won't appreciate her more, the stuff we do just always gets taken for granted, that's a women's life for sure !!!

So for all my American friends, have a wonderful Memorial Weekend, travel safe and for the rest of you, well I hope you have a good regular weekend :-)

Ouch ...

Well I am updating today being Wednesday but tomorrow is Jades End Of Year Program at her school so I will probably update you more then but wanted to quickly jot down as much as possible here so ...

It's been a rough week for Jade, poor thing !!! She is very close to riding her bicycle without her training wheels, she has been for the past few weeks practising on the grass in the back of our house, on Sunday she fell really hard and took a nice gash out of the back of her knee but thankfully that is healing up well, just in time for the next accident. And before I get to that one, last night Dave took her out front on the road and she actually rode pretty well without his help. She even managed to get going without him holding the seat like he does to allow her to get her balance. Of course she and Dave are equally excited at the fact she can now almost do this but Mom well ... let's say that I just don't watch, it's better that way !!!

Then last night just before bedtime, Jade wanted to watch a movie upstairs in her playroom. You see this past weekend I worked my butt off steam cleaning all the carpets and moving her playroom around. Now she loves her playroom and spends much time up there, she has a great work station to craft at and that is just her thing ... so thankfully the transition was a good one anyway ... so she wanted to watch a movie and Dave taught her how to put the video into the machine on her own, yeah I know videos are a thing of the past but daddy has just been too lazy to connect a dvd player up there yet but I am sure he will do it soon after this last experience.

She pushed the video in far with her thumb and the doors closed and she got it jammed in there and well I guess from the look of her thumb she jerked it out without thinking ... yuk, yuk, yuk is all I can say, it's on the inside of her thumb but she has taken the skin off the entire length of her thumb and almost the entire width too, it's gross. It was a pretty clean cut and the lose skin, ok am I grossing you all out here ? The lose skin just fell back onto the open wound and we didn't know what to do, thank God, Dave was here. Anyway we have a Parmedic that lives next door and a nurse that lives three houses away from us, not to mention a brain surgeon just doors away from us too but we called the nurse over and asked her to take a look. She said that we need to leave the skin on there to protect the wound from bacteria and just cover it with a waterproof bandaid for a couple of days and then open it up to dry once it start healing on its own. It's just such a big wound on that tiny little finger :-( and too keep it clean, what a mission but we just have to do it.

Thankfully Jade said it isn't sore so that's good at least if it gets sore we will know there is something wrong, heaven forbid that happens.















The above pics were taken two nights ago in the bath (obviously). I bought her this little radio, bubble blower, karioke machine which she loves, you can see how much fun she was having :-)

Then a quick update on my mom, she is doing really well recovering at home, slow but good. I think she realized after being home for just one day that she had to take it easy after she over did it on that first day. I think what is making it tough too is the fact that she says it is so very cold there that she can't get warm, thankfully the fireplace in the house does help some and a hot blanket on their bed helps too, it's only the start of Winter for them, it's going to get really cold still.

Anyway my mom will kill when she sees I have posted this picture but how long is that scar, wow, I know it's a hip replacement but still I didn't think the scar would be that long. She goes to get stitches taken out I think she said Friday, hopefully it will be quick and relatively painless ...



As I said I will probably update tomorrow too or maybe after the weekend, it's a long one for us, yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, it's Memorial Weekend here and the pool opens full time next week, it's only been open here weekends over the past two weeks, now it will be open only in the afternoons coz some kids here are still in school but at least Jade and I will be able to go use the pool in the afternoon. I think it is another week or two and then it will be open all day, we can't wait.

There is the usual pool opening party on Saturday but we have another party the afternoon so probably won't be able to attend, my girlfriend Tina's baby Layla turns one, and well they have a pool there too so Jade can swim there too since she will have overdosed in our pool by the end of Summer. Giving that a second thought we will have to see how her finger is doing !!! Anyway she doesn't get to see Layla's brothers Tyler and Louis as much since their mom went back to work so that will be a treat for her in itself even without swimming.

Last but not least ... still not many comments coming in ... come on y'all, make this worth my while and let me know you are actually reading my blog and keeping up to date with life over here :-)

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there ... I am thankful that my mom is home from the hospital today, I am sure that was the best gift ever for her. It's still going to be a tough recovery but thankfully today she said that she is managing the pain much better and although she knows everything is going to be a challenge for a while as long as she has help from my dad, she said things should get better and better every day, I hope so !!! My mom is not someone that likes to rely on anyone so that too is going to be a challenge for her but again, thankfully she is home and ok !!!

Before I go on, I just want to thank everyone that kept in touch with my mom while she was in the hospital, not being able to get up and do stuff made for a very boring time in her private room without a TV or phone, cannot believe they have hospitals like that, I have said it before but it makes me realize how lucky we are with the luxury in our hospitals over here. Thank God she had her cell with her so people could be in touch with her on there. Thank you too for all those that called me and emailed me to keep up to date with how she was doing, your concern was appreciated by myself and my family more than you know :-)

I have had a nice day so far, Dave had Jade make a whole bunch of crafty stuff for me yesterday which she gave me this morning, too cute :-) Hey even my hubby made me a home made card, now I think that is because he forgot to buy me one but I could see he put in a bit of thought and that is what counts the most. They also gave me a cover for my new cell phone and a magazine subscription I have wanted for a while :-) Then we got done and went out for breakfast, everything was crowded as you can well imagine but we had a yummy breakfast and then went on to Concorde Mills for a while, which for those that don't know me well, it's one of my favorite Malls.

Now we are home and relaxing, we will probably BBQ later and then relax further for the evening, I hope, get energized for another week.

Have a good one :-)

Gymnastics Update

Yesterday was Jade medal test at gymnastics and did she make us proud. All but one in her group are her age or older but there is only one other kid in the class that gets close to trying the things Jade tries, as you can see on the high bar above the cheesepit, she is a little dare devil. Not everyone in the class goes on the high bars either, she scares me half to death sometimes when I am sure her dad is thinking, you go girl !!!

It was fun for Dave to see all the things she has learnt over the last year, to be honest, I think she does better when him and I are not there because when we are she goes into showoff mode but still it must have been good for him to see at the very least, what he is paying for :-) hopefully now he knows he is getting his money's worth.

After the class the teacher that grades them pulled me aside and not only promoted Jade to the next class but she is actually going to skip the next class which is a TK (transitional kindergarten) class and go directly into the Girls Novice class which is the entry level class for gymnastics skills on all Olympics apparatus, how cool is that :-)

Her teacher said she is strong and very brave and she thinks Jade would be bored with the next class and wanted to put her in something that was more of a challenge to her. I don't know what the cut off age for this class is but I know you have to be at least 5 to be in it and in August when she starts in this class Jade won't be 5 yet but they know that and said she will be fine ... let's hope.

Anyway so that was our proud moment. My silly camera didn't get good pics but I have attached some pics for you to see, they got silly little trophies compared to their medals half way through the year but I think the little ones liked this award better.

We took her out to dinner to her favorite restaurant afterwards to celebrate :-)



















Have a good weekend everyone and I am sure I will update again on my mother but just in case my weekend gets hectic, Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there.

Mothers Day In The Hospital

Just spoke to my mom and although she seems to be getting on fine, she is still not where she should be walking wise so they are thinking she might have to stay there through the weekend, Mothers Day in the hospital !!! Well thinking about it, they will probably spoil the moms in the hospital more than my dad will spoil her at home so she is probably better off there :-)

She was still waiting to see the physiotherapist but had walked a good deal today and had sat in a chair for over three hours but still no stairs, so I personally think she should stay there as long as possible.

She sounds better though, in better spirits so that's the best part for me, obviously she is in a good deal of pain all the time but at least now she is taking the meds to help her through that. I am worried though they put her on something for her blood, I need to find out more about this later but I think whatever the problem, it is because she hates the hospital food and is not eating ... the more I tell her she has to eat something, she says the food is gross. I wish she would just order in something from the canteen downstairs, I mean, how difficult can that be ???

Anyway more later. Oh I have to post about Jades gymnastics too, exciting stuff, we are very proud of her !!!

For Those Following My Moms Recovery

Just wanted to let everyone know that my mom is doing well, although in a lot of pain she is hanging in there. I just spoke to her and she is about to get a massage since walking today for the first time and doing physiotherapy on top of that, it has taken a lot out of her.

She says that it's weird that you almost need to learn to walk again, that the hip that was replaced just doesn't want to do what she is telling it too, sounds really ouch to me.

Anyway they have told her that she can go home as soon as she walks and can get up a few steps, I told her that she needs to stay in there as long as possible so she can get as much help as she can before she is going to have to deal with everything herself at home, I am sure my dad will obviously help her but he has to work too so she is going to have to try and relax till he gets home or have to do it herself, I am hoping with my mom it is not the latter.

She also tries to be a hero as far as not taking pain meds but I told her she must take everything they give her to help her through this process, I don't know how she does it.

But anyway, that's the update for today. We have gymnastics this afternoon, Jade has her medal test so that has us excited :-) I will post later on how that went and will obviously have a pic or two to post.

Through Surgery Fine ...

Ok there is absolutely nothing more frustrating than being a million miles away from family and trying to get information about a loved one going through surgery and getting nothing !!!

Well after lots of tearsand what felt like a never ending day, I finally got through to my mother tonight and she seems to have come through it fine, she has lots of pain and feel yucky from the anesthetic but she survived and the surgery was a success. She has not seen the doctor as yet but that is what she has been told. I guess I will be in touch with her in the morning when she will make more sense and would have more information.

Thank you for all those that have called and emailed their concern, I know I appreciate it and am sure my family does too. I will post again soon.

Nothing Too Interesting Going On ...

Well it's been a week since I last updated my blog, now that update took forever so I will keep this one short, what is more I got only one comment after all the updating so I am a little unmotivated right now :-(

Anyway we had a slow weekend, Friday we had Jades Parent Teacher conference and it went really well, Jade seems to be where she needs to be at the moment, they even as much as said she was above where she needed to be but we won't focus on that at this point, as long as she is getting all she is being taught and trying her best to concentrate and learn the best she can, we are happy, so yeah we are proud parents right now :-)

Then Friday afternoon Jade said she had a headache which I never get from her so I took her temperature and it was quite high so I gave her some Motrin and within minutes she passed out on the sofa and slept for 2 hours. Woke up like a new person although she still had the temperature and ran it the entire weekend, you would hardly have known, she is a tough little girl. She seems to be over it today so who knows what it was. Thankfully the weather was pretty yucky which meant staying indoors was no big deal.

Dave and I managed to sort out our computer room which I hate to say is the one room in our house I have totally no control of, it looks like a pig sty all the time and I just don't know what to do about it but for now everything is off the floor and that is a start ... let's see how long that lasts.

My mom goes in for her hip replacement surgery tomorrow and I have to say I am totally freaked out about it. Being so far away is hard, I guess it is the price we have to pay for moving away but still, I am taking strain right now. I spoke to her tonight (SA time) and I could hear that she was now getting really nervous and now that she knew more of what she was going to go through she is a little more freaked because she didn't realize how big a deal this was all going to be. Her surgery is at 10am tomorrow morning, it's a 2 odd hour surgery after which apparently she will be in ICU for 12 odd hours and then sedated heavily for the next two days before they get her up to walk.

One of my neighbors mom went in for this surgery a while back and I have been following her recovery which has been great and really quick actually, the big thing I think for my mom is she is going to need to take it easy for a while to heal up completely, now for my mom that is going to be a mission, for anyone that knows her, they know what I am talking about.

I had to hold back the tears tonight when I spoke to her, I really do hope and pray all goes well. Thankfully she had a private room which we didn't think she would get and my dad is there with her, for how long, I don't know but he is there now, that's the main thing. I guess I have gotten used to the luxury of hospitals here where your hubby can sleep over in your room if you have a private room, they have a Lazyboy kind of chair in there that you can sleep in and well if there is a cot (fold out bed on wheels) available they will wheel it in for him to sleep in comfort, how cool is that ? Also my moms said there is no TV ... now ok that would totally kill me but with the yucky SA TV programs I guess she isn't missing too much although she will get bored quickly. What shocked me the most is there is no telephone in her room, what is more there isn't even a roaming one they can plug into her room, this is when I realize how lucky we are to be here, how can they not have stuff like that with technology being what it is, that's not a luxury, it's almost a necessity. Anyway so I am going to have to work out something so I can call her on her cellphone which is a mission since landlines are just so much cheaper :-(

So please, keep her in your thoughts and prayers and hope that all goes well.

I will update you in the next day or so on how everything went.