Happy Mother’s Day

I hope you mothers out there had a good one - I’ve had better.

My husband went out last night. I was quite shattered after Friday night’s speech/Saturday’s birthday party and was completely over people, plus, no babysitter. So he went to a friend’s birthday party and got back at 4am. Which would usually be fine, but I had been promised a sleepin and breakfast in bed, which is usually something special (last year - homemade Bircher muesli and freshly squeezed juice). Today - a coffee and a bowl of cereal. I got up after that for more food (!) and he promptly went back to bed, leaving me with an over-excited, present-opening fiend of a nearly-6yo and two babies who had hardly seen me for three days. The last time I spent any decent time with them was when I took them to the doctor’s for their immunsations.

So, I took them to the bookshop and the park, and Joe stayed home in bed while Stella attacked the rest of her presents and, naturally, neither of them has any idea who gave her each present. Oh well. “Thanks for the lovely gift!” looks pretty sucky on thank-you cards. On the way I went up to the local patisserie/chocolaterie and bought the most decadent things ever - ham and cheese croissants (the filled kind with the cheesy custardy stuff) and an almond/chocolate croissant. When I got home I relented and shared them with Joe.

I fed the boys leftover chicken casserole with hokkien noodles - we’re very multicultural around here - and gave them extra milk because it turned out that their unhappiness earlier was because they hadn’t had any milk (or any other fluid!) for breakfast. Poor boys. They went down to sleep beautifully though and at that point, after putting a rolled shoulder of lamb in the slow cooker, so did I.

The afternoon improved when I got up. We all went off to the Lindt cafe in town with my mother to have chocolate in many forms - milkshakes, a mocha, a hot chocolate, and various cakes. The boys were restive so Joe ran them around Martin Place while we ate. The Mothers Day special was a box of 10 Lindt balls, which I love, but unfortunately they got left in the bottom of the pram and the dogs ate them. Bugger. They were skating on thin ice anyway because they got into the garbage while we were out and scattered stuff all over the back yard. Honestly, if the dogs ran away tomorrow I would be fine about it, I think.

We had a special Mothers Day Poo Incident in the bath while I was bathing the boys. Sweet! I read them books - a time that I love, with them bundled up in their sleep sacks and Angus going “hih? hih? hih?” and pointing to the bookshelf when I finish one. Tonight I read “Wee Willie Winkie”, “Giraffes Can’t Dance” and one of my favourites, “How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?”. They redeemed themselves in part for the poo thing by going to bed very sweetly, in stark contrast to the previous nights, and I suspect there has been Illicit Cuddling, as when I went in last night there were hands in the air and an aggrieved air when I asked them to lie down again. But it’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell around here, it seems. Then I ducked down to the office to sort out some work for tomorrow, leaving Joe on the couch and Stella in the bath, with instructions to Joe to wash her stinky hair. Twenty minutes later I went upstairs and she was playing in a cold bath with some of the tiny, losable plastic crap things she had been given for her birthday, and he was asleep. Hair remained stinky.

So, I am a little peeved. I don’t demand gifts or flowers for Mothers Day, but apart from the nap and the outing for chocolate (which I organised for MY mother), it was kind of a crappy day.

Quick Kawasaki Update

Just a note to clarify the mention a few entries below that we decided to go ahead with influenza and chickenpox vaccines for Angus (and for the rest of the family). The danger with getting flu and the pox while on aspirin treatment (which he is, for enhanced clotting of his blood - his platelets count is likely to be high post the acute stage of the diesase) is of getting Reye’s Syndrome which, as may be garnered from that link, very, very bad. I note that Dr Reye was an Australian. I feel so … patriotic.

There is a link between taking aspirin during a flu or chickenpox infection and Reye’s Syndrome, thus the need for vaccination. There is a very small risk - possibly even a theoretical risk - of Reye’s Syndrome being triggered by the vaccination itself. We had a long discussion with the paediatrician, who classed the risks in the following order: stopping aspirin (the most risky because of the documented risk of clotting during the post-acute stage of Kawasaki disease), continuing aspirin and Angus getting the “wild” influenza or chickenpox virus (documented risk of Reye’s Syndrome), to vaccinations being the least risky, because of the lack of many reported cases of Reye’s Syndrome.

So after much soul-searching and internet self-education and the final appointment with Dr L, we took the kids (as noted below) to the doctor for their injections. Stella and Ronan had theirs too, and Joe had influenza and is having a blood test to see if he has had chickenpox, because he can’t remember and anyone who might remember isn’t around. (I say that if he doesn’t remember, he is highly likely not to have had it, because it is so awful, but apparently doctors like to be a little surer than that). I am going in for my influenza injection on Tuesday, since although the vaccination doesn’t cause symptoms, the doctor said she had enough anecdotal evidence of people being off-colour afterwards that she said it was fine to wait. I was too busy to be even a little off-colour, so Tuesday it is.

We hope that this won’t backfire, but so far he’s not vomiting persistently or showing signs of confusion or generalised lethargy, so it’s so far, so good.

Ten days until Echocardiogram no 2 - I am both terrified of it and looking forward to it, as I have told myself that the statistical risk of permanent cardiac damage is so low (2%) that we’ll be fine. We will be fine! Fine, I said!

Things that are over

My speech is over. It was really well received, and I just got an sms from a friend who was there which reads thusly:-

“I am exceptionally proud of you for last night. You were (and are) elegant, witty and very much yourself which is (a) a good thing and (b) no mean feat in that particular context”.

Awww.

I was pretty happy with how it went down, particularly with the laughs for the line “I do not scare easily, for I have twins”, and my dress looked AWESOME, even if I do say so myself. And I hope I will not have to be relevant, entertaining and witty for 650 of my peers any time again soon.

And then today - after getting to sleep at 2 am after wearing new shoes for eight hours the night before (mid-heel, but still) - I got up, and entertained my daughter and her friend M before her birthday party by making a Unicorn Cake. It was fantastic, and almost as much as a success as the speech. Degree of difficulty - perhaps even more than the speech, because while I am a wordsmith, I am not artistic, and making two round chocolate chip cakes into a Fairy Princess Unicorn was pretty daunting.

As I was cutting the pieces out of the second cake for the nose, ears and neck, the kids were very doubtful - “Mummy, that looks like a handbag”. “No, it looks like a turtle!” but I told them to Trust The Vision. “Mummy, that doesn’t look much like a unicorn”. “Are you Trusting the Vision?” “No”. “Well, do it”. “Oh, ok”.

Stella’s birthday is on Tuesday, but the party was today, and she, her best friend A and twenty other kids went bowling. I don’t particularly like “venue” parties - for one thing, they’re always incredibly loud and over-exciting, and there are usually tears - but this worked well because we were able to substitute all the crappy food on the usual birthday menu by getting a Strictly Kosher menu (ie - no food!) and subbing in platters from the adult menus - sushi, sandwiches, party pies and sausage rolls, and, of course, fairy bread. That kept the kids reasonably on track. The other good thing we did was to have a break in the bowling for lunch - they weren’t hugely busy, so they kept the lanes open, and the kids really enjoyed the bowling more after they had had something to eat.

Stella came up to me with her requested piece of Unicorn Nose (incorporating a pink marshmallow for the nostril and raspberry licorice for the “smile”) and said, in her serious way, “Mummy, I think this is the best cake I have ever eaten”.

That was almost better than the Chief Justice telling me I had done a good job last night. Woot.

A small reprieve

Since I last wrote on Monday, I have had a couple of crazy, crazy days - yesterday (Wednesday) was filled with speech practice, doing a bit of work, getting my nails done, taking the kids to the doctor for their flu/chickenpox vaccinations, and then shoe shopping, and then home to work on the trial. Which I did, from about 6 pm to about 11 pm and then got up early to do more work on Trial Day, and thought I was going to die. I am just not so good at the bouncing-back from busy days thing any more.

But the good news is that the trial settled today, and tomorrow is looking much better. I can bake a cake, go back and buy the shoes I found that miraculously (a) fit me (b) suit the dress and (c) look comfortable. Only downside is that they are flat, but my dress is so long and I am tall that I think pretty jewelled strappy sandals, even flat ones, will be fine.

Plus, my toenails are silver, and that needs displaying, I think.

I am completely wrung out by all of this, and am going to celebrate my night off (ie, not having to review for day 2 of the trial) by watching Underbelly, which may not be relaxing, but is something I resented not being able to do last night. See? My life? Sad, really.

Speech

I have to give my speech on Friday night, and currently I am working on a document called something like “speechfinalv4″. Yep, version 4 of the final! That is so not a draft speech!

I was hoping that there might be a lot of snow forecast for this weekend and everyone would be away, but, no, over 600 people have currently accepted and I will have to speak to all of them, hopefully without spitting, falling over, or fainting. The fainting is a bit of a possibility because my dress is just the smallest bit tight, is boned, and I will need to speak for about 12-15 minutes whilst holding in my stomach. Be proud of your twin tummy! all the feel-good-about-twins literature says, but it doesn’t look so pretty that I can do that, even when it is covered with silk and beading.

An acting coach friend of mine is going through it with me tomorrow, and the person introducing me sent me the introduction this evening, which meant I changed the entire first five minutes. Which was good, because I wasn’t all that happy with them. Now I am, and I am going upstairs with a block of chocolate** to practice it.

Wish me luck!

** ok, maybe it’s not all the boys’ fault.

What we ate this week

I love a good food blog, and this one isn’t it. But here’s what this rather disrupted and overly busy family ate this week. Everything’s organic except where noted. I try to drink about 2 litres of water a day but at the moment I’m constantly dehydrated. We have a ceramic water filter so drinking water is easy enough, but for some reason that skill eludes me.

Breakfasts:-

While I was away at hospital with Angus, Joe spoiled Stella and Ronan with buttermilk pancakes. Otherwise, we have weetbix (kids) and Nature’s Path Spelt Flakes (me) or what we call “blonde flakes” (another Nature’s Path product, I think with corn of some kind) (Joe). Porridge with maple syrup or honey. Scrambled eggs with a dash of soy and fresh herbs (or boiled egg for Stella) and toast. Often, we finish up with fresh fruit; at the moment, mandarins, pears and new season apples are wonderful. I also have a failing for crumpets (non-organic) with raw honey.

We have an espresso machine, and Joe likes to vary up his beans - at the moment we are drinking Toby’s Estate Ethiopian Coffee. I take mine as a skim or soy latte, Joe drinks his as a 3/4 long black. Stella loves a hot chocolate and I have just ordered some Green and Black’s hot chocolate for the upcoming winter. Mocha … mmmm.

Lunches:-

I pack Stella’s lunch each day - she has a cheese sandwich on soy and linseed bread (not organic - it’s Burgen) two pieces of fruit (today, strawberries, and an apple, cut and sprinkled with lemon juice, because she has no front teeth at the moment), a vegetable (usually carrot sticks, but sometimes half a cob of corn, or some cucumber and tomato) and some crackers with butter or vegemite (um, vegemite’s not organic either). She has a water bottle as well. The boys eat a sandwich, or pasta and beans, or soup if I have made some. Joe and I have a wrap (non-organic Mountain Bread) with lots and lots of salad and avocado, and feta or hommous or leftover roast meat if we have some for protein. I made soup this week, with homemade chicken stock, chopped carrot and celery, sweated onion and garlic, and lentils, and we had that for lunch with some toast. Our favourite bread is sourdough levain from Infinity, the local bakery. It can be a bit variable - sometimes very soft and fluffy, sometimes with a bit too much texture - but that’s the excitement of handmade bread, isn’t it?

I have my second coffee of the day around now, and a tea (often vanilla flavoured black tea, or Lady Grey, or Celestial Lemon Zinger) later in the afternoon. Only the Celestial is organic.

Dinners:-

Sunday: Roast chicken, done in the big cast-iron pot in a slow oven, with garlic, lemon and rosemary from the garden, served with steamed pumpkin, yellow beans, carrots and lots of baby spinach. The chicken was very popular with the babies, the first time they have really liked chicken I think.
Monday: Spaghetti bolognese sauce (with carrot, spaceship squash and leek added for extra veg content) made in the slow cooker, served with spinach and ricotta tortellini and a green salad. (The tortellini wasn’t organic, just your basic Latina Pasta stuff I keep in the freezer for quick meals).
Tuesday: Chicken and sweet chili sausages, with buttermilk mashed potato, steamed corn, broccoli, carrot and beans. The sausages were a disappointment; the flavour wasn’t great at all. (Buttermilk was non-organic).
Wednesday: Chili made with beef, kidney beans and beer, served with rice, corn chips and an avocado, tomato and lime salad (neither the beer nor the corn chips were organic). Stella had beans tossed with tomato instead of the chili, because she doesn’t even like pepper and isn’t a great meat eater, and I wasn’t going to sacrifice the chili by making it so anodyne that she would eat it. The babies had plain beans and rice topped with cheese, and enjoyed it.
Thursday: I had a late meeting, and got home after the babies had gone to bed and Joe and Stella had eaten. I had the leftover bolognese and tortellini, and added a handful of baby spinach for more veg. Joe and Stella had finished off the chili (surprise! He can her to eat things that I can’t, obviously).
Friday: I had defrosted pieces of osso buco to make in the slow cooker, but forgot to cook it at lunchtime, so Joe picked up Mexican takeaway from Guzman y Gomez. He really enjoys Mexican, but I’m not keen on it because of the coriander (cilantro). I would have much preferred Vietnamese from Phamish (love, love, LOVE their rice paper rolls and their salt-and-pepper squid) but I get my way so often that I am happy to deal with Mexican every now and then.

We don’t really do dessert - Stella has a piece of fruit or some yoghurt - Barambah Greek yoghurt with honey or Mungalli Creek mango yoghurt are popular - or her absolute favourite, Aeroplane Jelly (so, so not organic). I have a stash of Lindt chocolate - usually the 70% Madagascar dark, or the Coffee Intense dark blocks, and have a square (oh, all right, “or two”) after dinner. I am pretty sure that Lindt and organic are separate circles on a Venn Diagram.

So there you are - a concentration on quick and easy-to-prepare stuff this week, more so than most weeks. As I’ve said here before, I do love my slow cooker and it makes “real” food much easier to manage at the end of a busy day. Tomorrow for dinner - the forgotten osso bucco, saffron risotto, a green salad, and I may also make a pumpkin and ginger soup if I have time.

Home for a week now, and on with real life.

Angus has, indeed, been home for one week. It is a week during which I should have worked a lot harder than I did, given the lack of any work at all last week, but both Joe and I felt completely wrung out and it was very hard to concentrate in the light of Angus’ followup with the paediatrician which was booked for Thursday.

The good news is that Dr L. was very happy with him. He is showing no signs of a relapse (so the IVIG treatment worked), he has had no fevers, is tolerating the aspirin, and has none of the telltale signs of heart failure (breathlessness, fatigue, puffiness). So, good. He was also back to his cheeky little self, trying to deposit all the toys in the swing-top bin and choosing the loudest truck of all while I had Joe on speakerphone while we discussed the various options.

Once that was over, we all breathed a bit of a sigh of relief and relaxed. Not enough for Joe and Stella to go to the US for his older daughter’s graduation as planned, though- we have called that trip off just in case. So it means that we need to organise something for Stella’s birthday (the plan was that they would go to Disneyland on their way home from the graduation). Her best friend was away over the school holidays when she turned 6, so they are sharing a party … next Saturday. Eee! Since both F (the best friend’s mother) and I have horror weeks next week, we are trying to find something which is organised, catered, a bit different, and not $800 for 20 kids. Harder than you would think! If we are happy to drop a requirement of “no junk food” then the possibilities open up - but both of us are very loathe to get onto the hot dog/nuggets/fries bandwagon offered by most places that cater for children. The nicest option is an art school which has kids’ parties; they will give the kids a 1.5 hour art session with all materials supplied, and then 30 minutes of party food and all we would need to provide is a cake. And a swag of money, of course. They have no set menu, but will take the lead from the kind of food we choose.

Luckly most of the school parents are the kind of grimly healthy no-fun parents that we are, and birthday parties have things like chicken sandwiches and dips and vegies with a plate of cupcakes and possibly fairy bread along with the birthday cake - the kids seem to like it though and Stella’s idea of heaven is a “birthday party with smoked salmon sandwiches. With cream cheese. But not those little green things”. Not even six, and such a sophisticate.

So we got together this afternoon and workshopped, and tomorrow we are off to the local bowling alley to suss out the noise level (mainly for our sakes, not for the kids!) and whether we can talk them into food other than hot dogs/etc. Otherwise, it’s off to the art school.

In other news, I am investigating moving house. I absolutely totally don’t want to - we love this house, love the area, love the school - but prices in this area are ridiculous and for what we could get for this house and our investment property, we could buy an amazing 4 bedroom house 30 minutes by public transport/20 minutes drive from the CBD, with a pool, and have a mortgage smaller than I have had for fifteen years. It’s very tempting, but … see above re the love, love, love. It would be very disjointing to up sticks now, since we have had the same phone number since 2000 and at the last four houses we have lived in. All of those four houses are within five minutes’ walk of each other, so we feel rather settled in this neighbourhood and have what could be described to a bail court as “community ties”.

I really don’t want a commute again, though. I like being able to walk to work, or be five minutes away in a cab, or be able to duck back home for lunch if I feel like it. Being so close makes working from home doable, and it means that I can easily drop Stella at school and still be at work for a 10.00 court listing (even a 9.30 one if I am quick about it). Moving further out would be a bit of a lucky dip in relation to schools, too, and Stella is so happy where she is.

Something to think about, if only to rule it out.

I should just call this blog AngusTalk and be done with it

Angus is so much better. He went off to music class* with his carer yesterday (although she reported he stayed attached to her leg for the first ten minutes, but gradually went into his cute foot-stompy “dancing”) and to playgroup today. Ronan loves playgroup - he puts a dolly in the pram and pushes it around. We have a baby pram and baby dolls here, too, but they are in the Forbidden Room of Stella and although she hasn’t played with the pram for eons, it is hers, and the babies may not touch it. Poor sad Ronan. Angus likes playing with the ride-in cars at playgroup, and trying to cross the little bridge.

It was Stella’s first day back at school for Term 2. We’re having a cold snap and unfortunately the new winter uniforms weren’t ready, so she went off with a long-sleeved t-shirt and tights under her summer uniform. Luckily most of the other kids were wearing numerous layers as well and she didn’t look too odd. She was very happy to be back and I was very happy to send her - it’s difficult entertaining her when we are working and looking after babies, sick or not.

Here’s an entertaining picture of dinner on the weekend. When people say “do they have different personalities?”** perhaps I should just show them this picture. Ronan with the tactile approach, Angus is all about the eating.

* music class = lots of toddlers wandering around while their parents/carers sing and clap, then there’s a story, then morning tea. It’s at the local church and is part of their “ministry” but apart from the rector popping in to say hi, there’s not much class-like or ministering about it. It’s fun, that’s all.

** You’d be surprised how often I get asked this. I mean, duh. Of course they’re different. They may be twins, identical twins at that, but they are separate people.

Family update

Angus has now been home since Friday (the first day of the ANZAC long weekend) so we have had three days with him before we had to go back to work to put out all the fires which had been flickering away while we were otherwise engaged. We took him to playgrounds yesterday morning (brunch with my mothers’ group) and in the afternoon (a family walk via the drycleaners complete with dogs and children) and he enjoyed being in the open air and giggled and smiled and played and ran. He gets tired easily and sleeps like a rock, but otherwise is almost completely better physically, at least as far as we can see. The one lingering external sign of his illness is his skin which is dry and flaky in parts; we are using Dermaveen in the bath and Hydraderm cream all over after his bath to combat the dryness.

As for his cardiac issues, I am keeping a close eye on him for unusual fatigue or breathlessness, and am also taking his temperature twice a day and keeping a lookout for fever at other times. So far so good.

We also got some blackberry syrup to add to his aspirin, which he takes after breakfast, so that he now thinks it’s a treat rather than medication. He is very very suspicious of anything and anyone out of the ordinary - he even took a little while to give our carer a hug this morning - and I do hope that wears off. While the hospital was fantastic in their care for him, it is a teaching hospital and as Kawasaki’s is unusual and difficult to diagnose we had constant teams of medical students and first- and second-year doctors taking his history and checking his rashes and generally making his life miserable. I don’t mind being part of the teaching process myself (I must have given his history three times to eager students) but when it compromises my child’s comfort I will get all mother-liony about things.

So, all is well. His brother and sister are very happy to have him home, and everytime I pick him up I want to hug him and never let him go - something he is quite happy to indulge me in. We’re a pair of sooks together.

As for us - Joe and I are both a bit under the weather, I think with mild post traumatic stress! I am feeling very worn out and teary and he is pretty wrung out as well. We have our carer working all this week so we will be able to get some personal space and some work done, which will help us out emotionally (and I hope financially).

Thank you all for your good wishes, posted here and elsewhere, and your emails. I really do appreciate them.

A Kawasaki Disease respository

Angus came home this morning. He was a bit overwhelmed and clingy and sad, but slept really well while his brother chatted and played and bounced around in his cot. We went over to our neighbour’s place to welcome them home from their trip to Bali, and he hated leaving the house - I think tomorrow will be a settle-back-into-home day for him.

We have to make a decision about his chickenpox vaccine, since he will be on high (for his age) doses of aspirin for the next three months, and influenza + aspirin or chickenpox + aspirin can trigger Reyes Syndrome which is extremely serious. While the influenza vaccine is not a live virus and thus won’t have that risk, the varicella vaccination (chickenpox) could. Our doctor feels that the risk of a reaction with the vaccination is less than the risk of leaving the vaccination and getting chickenpox. Obviously the ideal would be to delay the vaccination and somehow guarantee that he doesn’t get chickenpox while taking aspirin, but I am not in the mood to tempt the gods.

So here’s some information about Kawasaki Disease. I’m just putting this here so I can find it easily. Feel free to browse of course if you wish!

• Kawasaki Disease factsheet - Westmead Children’s Hospital factsheet.
• Another factsheet from Kids Health Info for Parents - my health go-to site. It notes:-
  

  A small percentage of children develop problems with either the heart muscle or the coronary arteries. The heart problem appears in the first phase of the illness and this is why the initial echocardiogram is performed. If the test is negative, then it is very unlikely that problems will develop later but a further check test is usually performed at 6-8 weeks.

  I was hoping that we would be out of that “small percentage” (I know, some other parents’ child can be the 2-4% of children with coronary problems after treatment! I am not totally selfless) but apparently not, at least at the moment.

• Kawasaki Disease Foundation website and forum
• KD in the news just a week ago - a couple of people said to me “Oh, I read an article about that recently”, and when I asked, “What was that about?” none of them “remembered”. Now I know why.
• A report on a little girl who developed mild dilatation of a coronary artery at the follow-up echocardiogram, rather than at the initial one. Good pictures of the peeling of the skin on the fingers (something we need to look out for as Angus’ peeling was on the face and the back of the neck - atypical)
• On the varicella issue - the Australian Immunisation Handbook deals with the Reyes syndrome risk thusly:-
  

  For both varicella-zoster vaccines, the product information states that salicylates should be avoided for 6 weeks after varicella vaccination, as Reye’s syndrome has been reported following the use of salicylates during natural varicella infection. At present it is not known whether Reye’s syndrome occurs following the administration of salicylate after varicella vaccination, as no cases have been reported. NHMRC recommends that physicians weigh the theoretical risks associated with VZV against the known risks of the wild type virus in those children and adolescents receiving long-term salicylate therapy for conditions such as Kawasaki disease.

  (emphasis added). Salicylate is, of course, aspirin. We need to discuss this with Dr L. at our followup next Thursday.

• Pediatric Cardiology by Walter H. Johnson and James H. Moller, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001 recommends the vaccination and consideration of temporary suspension of aspirin treatment after vaccination. Interesting.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your good thoughts and wishes for Angus. They cheer me more than you quite possibly think.