Happy Easter!

Grandma and Noni both left last week.  We were sad to see them go but find life slipping back into it's normal rhythms now that my lungs are well managed.  While they were here we enjoyed some preliminary Easter festivities.  I am woefully behind on my blogging and I'll share some photos from those in my next post.  Easter Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day with just enough clouds and just enough breeze to make it very pleasant.

I got up at 3:00 am to mix the dough for the hot cross buns, then I went back to bed to sleep while they were rising.  When the boys and I got up for the day they helped brush the buns with egg and pipe on the crosses.

After we'd eaten our breakfast I found, in the pages of my cookbook, a note from the Easter Bunny with a clue for the boys.  The scavenger hunt sent them first to the washing machine, then to look inside Garbage Truck, then off to look under my pillow, and then into Eliot's shoe.  Finally the boys were led to look under the kitchen sink where they discovered that that clever rabbit had filled their Easter baskets with all sorts of delights.  The idea of finding clues captured Peter's fancy and after we'd found the baskets of treats he was determined to search his other trucks for "cwoos."

Eliot was thrilled with everything in the basket and loudly announced each item as he pulled them out.  Peter, to his credit, went for his box of raisins first and I was very pleased...

...until he poured them onto the rug in order to eat them.

Each boy received a chocolate Easter Bilby.  Eliot had written to the Easter Bunny specifically requesting one.

Chocolate!

Chocolate!

Crash.

I turned on some cartoons for them while I washed the dishes and got our bag packed for church.  Their faces were saying what they themselves would never utter: "If I ever see another piece of chocolate again it will be too soon!"

Eliot has recently become acquainted with the idea of death (mainly from his interactions with the insect world) and the religious aspect of Easter was a little more prominent in his mind this year.  It was nice to be able to talk with him and Peter about the Resurrection and find that it wasn't swallowed up entirely in the tidal wave of chocolate eggs.

Peter's Belated Birthday Celebration

Two days before I was admitted to hospital Peter turned three.  I remember lying in bed and hearing Eliot and Peter in their bedroom.  Eliot told Peter that it was his birthday and Peter respond, "Yes, I'm three!"  He then started singing "Happy Birthday."  I was pretty much unable to get out of bed, and Spencer was swamped, so other than that the day passed by without much fanfare.  When I was in the hospital Spencer told me that at home Peter insisted that he was still two.  Perhaps he was protesting the absence of cake and presents.

When I was home and up again we baked him a cake and had a proper birthday celebration.  Now if you ask him, he is definitely three.

Peter was delighted with his cake.

He joined in singing "Happy Birthday" to himself.

When Peter blows on something he goes "fffffffff" which isn't the most effective.  Eventually he was perfectly happy for Eliot to help him out.

New trucks and cars!!

Big boys scoop their own ice cream.

He's trying to smile for the camera but he also has a rather large, cold bite of ice cream in his mouth, hence the funny face.

We love our little Peter!

A brief explanation of a recent illness

I pulled it together for Eliot's birthday party, sitting down as much as I could, but when we got home I went straight to bed as my health continued to spiral downward.  Spencer was suddenly in charge of children and home.  He did a really great job handling it all, though it was stressful for him especially since he still had his own work to do.  People from church helped out with meals and helped watch the boys so Spencer could get some work done.  To complicate things further, he had an upcoming trip to North America that would keep him there for seven weeks.  He thought about cancelling the trip but it was very important for him to go, so instead he arranged with my mother and his to come out and help me for a few weeks.

In the midst of all these arrangements I was admitted to hospital with pneumonia.  I was there for almost a week during which additional testing and a lung biopsy ultimately confirmed that I had eosinophilic pneumonia which is essentially an immune response that gets turned on but doesn't turn off, filling up your lungs with your own white blood cells.  Apparently it can be caused by all sorts of things that I don't have.  It can also happen for reasons they can't explain, and it was decided that this was the case with me.  Fortunately it's very easily and effectively treated with steroids.  I was discharged from the hospital shortly after Spencer's mother arrived and on the very day that my own mother arrived.  Spencer left on his trip a few days later.  That first week home I was still pretty weak so it was great to have the extra help.  As the weeks have passed I've gotten stronger and as the dose of steroids gradually decreases I pay close attention to my lungs as a relapse is possible.  But so far so good.  I am certainly very grateful for friends far and near and for all of the help and well-wishes that have come our way.

Eliot turns five and has his first birthday party

Eliot turned five while Spencer and I were in Bali.  Aunt Coleen and Uncle Oliver helped him celebrate on the day and sent him off to school with cupcakes to share with his class.  I love that Peter can't take his eyes off them.

Giving Yellow Bear a ride in the stroller while waiting for the train to Fremantle.

This year Eliot was wise to the whole concept of a birthday party and was determined to have his at the Jungle Gym.  I booked it for the Saturday after Spencer and I returned from Bali and invitations went out to his little classmates.  The Jungle Gym is on the south side of the river and we live on the north side.  This is not a huge barrier but, as Merlene once put it, you'd think people had to swim across.  As a result only one of Eliot's little friends turned up for the party, but it was one of Eliot's very best friends so he wasn't disappointed in the least.  Eliot, Peter and Filip had a fantastic time climbing, jumping, running, tumbling, etc.

Peter and Fuzzy Yellow Bear negotiating the foam pit.

Swinging on a rope into a pit full of foam cubes, you just can't beat that.

If the success of a party is measured by the happiness it gives to the child for which it is thrown, than this was one very successful birthday party.

A trip to Bali

A month or so ago we got word from Spencer's Aunt Coleen and Uncle Oliver that they were planning a trip to Australia and would like to come to Perth to see us.  We were delighted.  They also mentioned that they would be happy to stay with the boys for a few days so that we could take a little trip somewhere.  We were overjoyed.

We finally decided on Bali for our getaway and booked a villa at a hotel in Ubud, a town several miles out of the main city of Denpasar and farther up in the hills and away from the over-crowded beaches.  When Spencer's aunt and uncle arrived we had a couple of days to show them around, take them to Fremantle and such with the boys before taking off.  I was not feeling the best and was taking antibiotics for a chest infection and I blame my somewhat foggy state on the fact the I forgot to bring a camera along on the trip.  That was disappointing, but I soon discovered that not having a camera freed me up to "live in the moment" and simply absorb the sights, sounds, and smells all around us.

At Denpasar we boarded a shuttle that would take us to our hotel and I rolled down the window to better appreciate the sights/sounds/smells and the fresh, humid air.  Driving through the city was a little crazy, with trucks, motorbikes and taxis nosing in around one another and rushing together in, what seemed to us, total chaos.  The longer we were there the more we saw a method in the madness, but we were nevertheless happy not to have to drive in it ourselves.  As we drove along the highway we passed a motorbike with a man driving and a woman seated behind him.  I noticed two tiny feet sticking out on either side of the woman and, as we passed, saw a small child sandwiched between them.  This became a very common sight.  The drive to our hotel followed the highway along which we saw every manner of commercial enterprise, set close to the road where their proprietors looked out at the traffic.  As we got farther from the city these thinned out and gave way to rice paddies and wooded areas.  We reached Ubud as night was coming on and were greeted, at our hotel, with frangipani leis and juice.  The whole place oozed relaxation and was just what we needed after a long day of travel.

The next couple of days were filled with exploring and sampling the local fare (which was very tasty).  The antibiotics I was on weren't really doing anything for me and my increasing shortness of breath held us back a bit, but we nevertheless made it to the monkey forest, a Hindu temple outside Ubud, and a spa.

At the monkey forest women were selling bananas to those who wanted to get a picture of a monkey climbing on their head feed the monkeys, and there were signs warning people not to hide any food.  We didn't take any food into the forest with us, but we did each have a water bottle.  One monkey snatched Spencer's water bottle out of his hand and sat down in front of us to unscrew the lid, dump the water onto the ground and lap it up.  Then he hopped over to where I was sitting, spotted the top of my water bottle sticking out of my bag, pulled it out and drink it up as well.  Another monkey nearly made off with my hat but a timely shout from one of the guides saved the day.  It was a beautiful forest that was almost more like a park with a paved path and ornate statues.  The monkeys were delightful but not a bit tame.

The Hindu temple we visited was a short taxi ride out of Ubud and our taxi driver had a sarong and sash for each of us to wear when we arrived.  He helped us into them and sent us on our way.  The temple was in a ravine and a winding stone staircase, bordered with merchants and rice paddies, led us down to it.  It was a beautiful site with water bubbling through the centre.  The temple itself was open air with enormous figures carved into the rock cliff on either side.  The vegetation was plentiful and lush all around and young girls walked quietly about in brightly coloured sarongs and lace blouses.  It was well worth the climb.

We were only there for three days, and I was getting more and more ill with each passing day, but in spite of that it was a very enjoyable trip.  Eating breakfast in our hotel restaurant every morning on a balcony over looking the river valley and the distant mountains, wandering the streets of Ubud, sitting in our hotel's open-air cafe for afternoon tea, watching people going about their daily business.  It was wonderful.

Eliot and Peter's Misadventure

The other night the boys thought they'd add a little excitement to their normal bedtime routine.  When their shower was done and their pyjamas on, they ran out the door.  This is something they do from time to time.  Our front door opens onto a balcony that runs around the courtyard that is in the centre of our somewhat circular building.  The boys run around it like a racetrack and come back in.  It's not something we encourage, but it's not the worst that could happen.  However, this time they decided to head down the stairs.  Spencer went after them and followed them out of the courtyard into the common area between the buildings.  Who knows how long the chase would have lasted if the boys had not been slowed considerably by the prickles in the grass.  It's all fun and games until your feet are full of prickles.  By the time I caught up with them (wearing flip flops) Spencer was carrying both boys out of the grass.  All three of them were barefoot and all three of them had feet speckled with little prickles.  They spent the rest of the evening taking turns having me pluck prickles out of their feet.  Some of them couldn't be reached, especially since Peter was resistant to having me come anywhere near his tootsies with a pair of tweezers.  After they went to bed I had Spencer soak his feet in water and baking soda which did the trick.  So the next morning I did the same with the boys.  A Thomas & Friends DVD and granola bars helped them pass the time, along with the novelty of sitting in the living room with their feet in a tub of water.  Another prickle was removed successfully from each boy.  They still have a few that will need soaking but things are pretty well on their way to being sorted.  I'm sure they'll think twice before trying a stunt like that again.

Eliot's First Day of Pre-Primary

Today was the first day of the new school year here in Australia.  For Eliot that meant starting Pre-Primary.  It took me a while to get used to the way school progresses here.  Back home you start out with Pre-School, then Kindergarten, then First Grade.  Here it's Kindergarten (Kindy), Pre-Primary, and then Year One.  But we've got the hang of it now.  Kindy was a great preparation for Eliot and he was really looking forward to his first day of school (and I don't think it was only because of the pancakes I'd promised to make for breakfast.)  A few of his little friends from Kindy are in his new class and, truth be told, I think he was starting to get a little bored at home.  Having him around certainly is never boring.  I'll be in one room cleaning up only to come out and find that he has pulled out several pans and has a concoction of bread, honey, water, and leaves going in each one.

We had a nice walk to school and then he hung up his backpack, put his water bottle, fruit, and lunch box in their designated spots and then got right into the action.  He will be attending five full days versus the two and a half in Kindy, so we'll see how things go later this week.  But I think he's off to a good start.

Peter and Eliot have become cute little playmates, complete with squabbles, and I think that Peter will miss Eliot but also appreciate a little time to play with whatever he wants.  Over the break we had some seriously hot weather and we were staying inside, so I got them some paints which they fell in love with.

They're such fun little guys.  I'm excited for Eliot and this new school year with all of the fun things he'll be learning and for Peter and the time I'll have to focus on him.