Category: week in review

We’re getting back into school routine now, complete with homework, music practice, swimming lessons.

One of the things I read about people flicking through old photos is that it’s the little items around the edge that jog the memory, not so much the faces. So I could have tidied up the table for this photo but I left it.

Similarly, this is Huff thinking about Arduino programming. 

Saturday morning, Dad wanted to cook crepes again for breakfast, but we didn’t have enough flour, so Huff and Puff went with Dad to buy flour.

On the way home, Huff wanted a piggy back ride. This did not last long.

Saturday afternoon we had a birthday party. Huff – finally cleared post tonsillectomy – was allowed to play at inflatable world. She had a great time running around and climbing and sliding.

Perhaps having an even better time was Puff. The sheer amount of sweat on him is impressive.

Huff is back from hospital and mending well; she’s almost ready to head back to school. This has meant for a bit of a sedentary week, with not many outings, but we’re getting back to normal.

Saturday morning Dad and Puff went for another walk, and ended up in a cafe, and then dropped in at one of Puff’s friend’s houses on the way home.

In the afternoon, Dad and Huff (with some programming assistance from Puff) put together a circuit of Huff’s imagining. The lights flash in a pattern of her choosing. It was a bit of a step down from her original design of having beeping and flashing lights, but she had fun plugging and unplugging wires and starting to figure out how circuits work.

We visited Grandma and Doc as well. Huff managed a trip to church, and then that visit, but then wanted a nap on the way home.

Then the next day Huff started to do some school work. It’s good to see her getting her strength back.

Puff has a busier school term this year. Drama, violin, recorder, and swimming. Lots to keep him busy. Huff will be getting up to more once she’s back at school, though at this moment she’s not looking forward to going back!

An unusually tiring and hospital-filled week. Wednesday morning we were able to bring Huff home from having her tonsils out. Here she’s resting in her room, in the armchair that was Mum’s bed on Tuesday night.

The hospital was a good experience for her – she was saying that apart from the tonsillectomy it was a good holiday – cool adjustable bed, breakfast in bed – lots of positives.

Home again, Huff was able to play with some more of her birthday presents – Dad helped her a little with this machine, but she’ll do it herself next time.

Friday night saw Puff head to a games night. With a little bit of spare time available, Dad took Puff out for some gelato, and to walk around a bit and catch some Pokemon. It was a late night, but a lot of fun.

Saturday saw Puff and Dad go for a long-ish walk to go try out a new cafe. Puff wasn’t keen to play chess, but the rest of the trip was a lot of fun.

Sadly, on Saturday night (well, around 1am Sunday), Huff came to Mum and Dad’s room and was coughing up some blood. This is a significant warning sign post-tonsillectomy, so we went to emergency at a nearby hospital soon afterward. Puff had to be woken up, and then entertained for a number of hours while Huff’s health was investigated.

The doctor, and then a specialist, had a look at her, and before we knew it, she had a new cannula fitted, waiting for some fluids, and to be admitted to hospital.

Dad and Puff went home to grab an hour or two of sleep, then Puff came back for a big day of screen playing.

After 24 hours’ observation, everyone was happy with how Huff was mending, and she came home, but we’re still trying to get her to keep eating and drinking in reasonable quantities: quite a few arguments, but when her painkiller medications are working she remains in good spirits.

Big week for Huff; her 6th birthday party, and having her tonsils out. She’s resting tonight in hospital with Mum, and we’re expecting her to come home again tomorrow.

Saturday was her party and she had 3 friends (and her big brother, and grandmother) all celebrating with her by making some craft with polymer clay.

 Given her choice of birthday cake, she wanted an octopus cake, which she cut by slicing right between the eyes.

 Afterwards, we ate the remaining fruit and packed everything away. It was a good celebration.

 Sunday we managed some speedy duck-feeding at the local creek – even Mum came along to help.

Then to fill in time before having her tonsils out, Huff came along to watch her brother swim.

 And managed to do a great job in her own swimming lesson (her last for a couple of weeks while she recovers).

She continued her tradition of being super enthusiastic about the whole process of the tonsillectomy right until it was time to inhale the anaesthetic gas. When the operation was finished, she was really tired, and has been resting up most of the rest of the day (with a generous helping of ABC for kids).

Next week we’ll have a fairly quiet schedule for Huff while she gets better.

Despite Dad’s best efforts to convince her to stay five for another year, Huff turned six today! Dad took her and Puff to swimming this week. Puff is in squad now, and seems to spend a whole hour swimming up and down the lanes, while Huff still has some extra apparatus to help make the swimming photos look more involving.

With her birthday impending, there have been many different settings and celebrations – here she is trying to work with some sparklers (potentially a health hazard, but went okay for the cake).

Noodles are quite popular with her at the moment (keeping with the theme of blowing on food).

We decorated her doorway for a bit of birthday bling.

Puff, meanwhile, has spent time this week becoming more generous and spontaneous in helping out around the house, and obsessing over cross road. Here he is wondering if he’ll make it to SWAG in time.

See you next week. Happy birthday, Huff!

And just like that, school holidays are over again, and we’re back to the regular pattern of life. On Australia Day, Puff had a school choir event, so we all went in to the Opera House to watch. People were handing out Australian flags – Huff was running around with hers.

We’re making the most of the holidays; though Dad is back at work again now. We’ve put the kids into separate rooms now. Here’s Huff’s last night in her old bed, before they started out in separate rooms.

There’s been some crafting this week amid all the cleaning up. Here’s a doll, though a certain lack of enthusiasm about it from Huff.

Here’s the new setup for Huff, where she’s picked the purple colour as a highlight.

When we made a trip to the shops to pick up school shoes and other school items, we stopped for a climbing gym.

The kids went for a walk with Dad on an early morning.

We visited Grandragon and Huff did some gardening.

We made a trip into Newtown for noodles.

Maybe there wasn’t too much concentrating on food, when both parents took photos of the kids from their respective seats.

The kids didn’t settle into their new rooms straight away, but after a couple of nights of sleepovers in their respective rooms, they’re getting used to sleeping solo.

School holidays, Dad on holidays too, and helping move boxes around and getting ready to set up the kids in their own rooms. To break up the moving boxes around, we went into the city on a very hot day, to watch the Wind in the Willows in the Botanic Gardens. We felt bad for the performers, but they did a spectacular job. 

There were two different locations. The second was Toad Hall – after the performance we grabbed a quick photo of the kids.

Having Dad around for the week was a chance for the kids to spend some extra time with Dad. We spent some time running around catching Pokemon. Huff is getting more interested in video games, and Pokemon in particular.

As a reward for a long day, we went out for dinner. You’ve never seen such concentrated faces when people are eating edamame beans.

We also had a great time visiting friends for a couple of nights in a house near the beach – Dad took the kids for a morning walk each day and we visited the local playground and the local cafe. The kids had a great time at the beach, though Huff wasn’t so enthused about climbing rocks in bare feet.

Hoping to have some photos of the “reveal” for Huff’s new room for next week.

Dad spent about half of this week working: the kids managed a brief visit during the week, and we saw one advantage or working in a home office: access to a trampoline! With the work week finally over, Dad headed with Uncle J to the cricket on Saturday – the first game at the SCG for any of the kids!

Mindful of the patience of little legs, we drove to the ground, and parked at a nearby high school (their P&C was charging for parking, so it was helping the school). Here they are walking the long grass with their sombreros, looking a little like hobbits.

Both our kids enjoyed the whole experience at first – there’s a lot to look at, and take in.

Eventually, though, Huff (“will there be snacks? ok, I’ll go”) soured on the experience a little, asking when it would be over, and interpreting any crowd noise as a wicket, and one step closer to being able to leave.

With inexpensive ice creams on the way home, all was forgiven, and Huff has decided she probably won’t be back, and Puff is counting down until he can go again.

The main goal of Dad’s two weeks leave is to tidy up the house, and set up the kids with separate bedrooms. There has been a lot of box moving (and hence not many photos) so far: we’ll see how we go!

And we’re back from Christmas and Summer Camp. And Dad is back to work. After a while having the tree set up, and the presents coming in underneath, we finally found ourselves all in the same place long enough to put the star on top (Mum took the photo). 

Dad had Puff with him on Friday morning, and he was explaining the latest Pokemon Go techniques to very patient people at work.

Dad went on a couple of errands with Huff for some father-daughter time. She was very helpful.

Christmas Eve we had Mum’s side of the family over: the kids had lunch at the kids table.

Christmas day was church, then lunch with Dad’s family, then visiting a family friend. The next day, we packed up the Christmas tree, packed up the baggage. Before we new it, we were at Summer Camp for the week. 

Puff read around 9 books during the week Some of them by headlamp.

At New Year’s Eve the kids stayed up and watched the midnight fireworks. Just barely. Puff made it through with only a bit of a snooze.

Huff didn’t make it quite so far.

The next day, though, she bounced.

The kids had a great time at camp. Huff even said she wished the whole of the school holidays could be camp.

One thing that was missing was pancakes. Dad made pancakes on the January public holiday, with a range of different toppings.

Dad took Huff to the movies to watch Moana.

Puff assembled one of his Christmas presents – a solar powered robot.

One more week of work, and then Dad has a couple of week’s holidays!