Catch up!

So we have a lot to catch up on, a few weeks if not months since we last wrote a blog. We spent Christmas in England then had what I would describe as 'not my favourite flight' back to Australia. Ruben had diarrhoea most of the way, but clearly not the type that makes you feel tired and lethargic, the type that makes you want to bounce constantly for hours and hours, (apart from the frequent nappy changes) much to the annoyance of other passengers. Add to that Caleb vomiting in the other seat and the fact that we caught the edge of a typhoon which made the flight quite bumpy, I think you get the picture. We had carefully calculated the number of nappies we thought we might need for the flight, plus a few extra for emergencies. Unfortunately that calculating failed to include frequent bouts of diarrhoea, up to 4 changes an hour! We almost ran out and had to scour Hong Kong airport for more nappies. I finally found a pharmacy that sold a pack of 2 nappies, the only pack in the whole airport! Fortunately we just managed and made it back to Australia.

The first week back everybody apart from Ruben adjusted back to the 10 hour time difference really quickly. Ruben woke at 2 am, 3 am, 3 am, 4 am , wide awake and wanting breakfast. He didn't want to go back to bed either. So I had many a morning watching the Australian dawn break. Thankfully it comes early around 5:30 am and the bright sunshine that follows is very cheering for a weary mum.

We just about sorted out Ruben's sleep when he got sick and then very spotty. We thought it was chicken pox, it may have been chicken pox but he has been vaccinated against it and then Bethany and Caleb also got spotty too. They have had chicken pox so I think it was hand, foot and mouth disease. What followed was a week off school for everyone apart from Josh who remained spot free. He didn't miss out on the fun however, as he had to have his ingrowing toe nails removed. It was encouraging to note that Bethany and Caleb were gutted to be missing school and pleading to go back.

Last week some of our best friends from Tanzania (the Cousleys) arrived to work with MAF in Mareeba. So we had a fun but busy time helping them out and catching up. It was nice to see how the kids pretty much just carried on where they had left off even though there has been a 4 year gap.

It was also Caleb's 10th birthday which he celebrated with a trip to the cinema with his friends followed by a massive water fight and 'Nerf gun war'  (The war was not in the cinema of course, that was back at our house).

So this week Caleb has school camp and next week Bethany gets braces!! Phew! It's hard work keeping all the balls juggling.