crap...

that's about all i can say really.

crap: the family has had a stomach bug that has had five of us puking all over the place.
crap: Harlow's feeding went all to pieces.

... and ...

crap: Harlow's tube was put back in.

it went like this...

monday. Grayson puked first, then Harlow, Cohen on the way to kindy (three times ~ thanks to Michelle for cleaning up that wee gift), then me(!!) followed by Caiden. i have to say, monday was not a good day. lots of washing .. lots of cleaning ... oh, the cleaning ...

tuesday was a better day. a non-puking tuesday.

the worst part of this is the effect it has had on Harlow's feeding. during the group-puke-fest, if we fed him too much he would puke it out. so we reduced his feeds to a much smaller amount. his 1000mls per day dropped down to about 600mls, a little shy of what he should be taking. tuesday was a little better with 800mls, but im guessing it will take a while to get him back to his 1000mls.

now, anyone who knows Harlow well knows what a "challenge" he is to feed. its hard. on a good day. well, tuesday was hard and then some. we did very well to get that 800mls into him.

but ... what can you do? the show must go on.

end of an era...

hello,

i haven't said hi for while, so i will say it now. hi. i have some news to tell you. i think its quite exciting.

i have made a change today and it's momentous!

eight days ago, i decided ENOUGH! NO MORE! i decided i was not going to use my tube anymore and since then it has been nothing more than a blip on my cheek.

for the last eight days i have been, what i like to call, a SUPERSTAR! every bottle i have had has been consumed the old fashioned way, suck'n'swallow. not a single one has been down that tube, not one. for a whole eight days. i have tried this before, but any longer than four days and i just conked out.

but wait, theres more! i have started eating solids. i mean, properly eating solids. Mum has given me some in the past but, meh, i took some, i left some... not the case now. tonight i ate two cubes of pumpkin. it wasn't what i requested, a hamburger, but its a start; everyone knows it takes time to train a parent.

i listened to Mum and Dad talking about pulling the tube out; should we? shouldn't we? haha, you should have heard them, they were like a couple of old women! but in the end, the decision was made and wasn't that a weird feeling. it was like having a foot long piece of snot pulled out of your nose.

i feel a little ... different now the tube has gone, it has been with me since i was born. baring a few days here and there, but whats a few days between friends? i only hope that i can keep it up. if i conk out again, back goes the tube. that would not be a good thing.

so, to immortalise this event, i commissioned a well known video artist to take a video of the tube coming out. here it is ...



dont i look the stunned mullet when it comes out? anyway, thats all the news i have at the moment, i will talk to you again when something else important happens.

cheers,

• Harlow.

something special ...

he laughs... >:]

and its one of the coolest sounds in the world.

we got the pox...

so, when you have four kids, it takes a while to get through the pox. we have had it in the house now for six weeks.

so, Caiden burst out in spots on the first day of the holidays. yep, thats exactly what he said. he was not impressed.

so, during the two weeks of the holidays, Cohen had a friend over ( we gave him chicken pox ) and i took the boys to see Grandpa up in hawkes bay. i guess as far as sick holidays go, it was not too bad.

so, school started and off Caiden went. alas, Cohen did not make it to kindy. for the next two weeks, both Cohen and Grayson sat and counted spots. turns out that Grayson's case was a pretty normal one, the kind of case you expect everyone to get. Cohen's on the other hand was pretty vicious. his spots had spots and they were everywhere. he still has some that have not gone away and its a month later.

so, then there is Harlow. i have decided that chicken pox is a nasty disease and should not be contracted by anyone younger than about three. with a three year old you can at least explain what is going on, with a baby of 8 months, its a little harder.

so, i thought that you could only get the pox once. turns out that's not quite true, this is Caiden's second round. some of you may remember his first round, he was four and spend nine nights in hospital with a combination of eczema and chicken pox eating up his skin. if that wasn't bad enough to stop him getting them again, i don't know what is.

so, if you think that is all, well, it's not. during this six week epic pox marathon, we have also had Cohen and Grayson with a virus, and Caiden with the same virus, vomiting, asthma and a chest infection. plus Harlow was in kenepuru hospital with ( suspected ) dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea.

so, throw in three or four nights of three or four hours sleep ... we have had enough of the pox.