Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Rachel's report of our trip to Straddie !

So, we are back from Stradbroke and Peter and Harriet headed off home via Singapore yesterday. I think they really enjoyed their time with us - it was probably the most relaxing part of their trip. Their stay started off very nicely for us, but ended on a bit of a sour note. Stradbroke was beautiful and we had lovely weather for it. The house was fantastic with a great big deck with views over the beach. It slept about 24 people and was close to the beach and the pub - what more could one ask for? Stevie got some four wheel driving in - both along the beach and in the bush. So at least now we can can justify having a four wheel drive - and I think we both have the bug. I had a bit of a drive too.

Rob came and joined us, as did Mum. And Charlotte and Steve and Jamo and Tracey also came over for the last few days. I also had my cousin Lilly there to help out with the children. The girls loved the beach and having people around and Imogen became a proper walker. Thirty one years to the week that her Mummy did, on the same island. My little star. So she is now on legs and is attempting to run before she has fully mastered the art of good balance. Her walking came at a fortuitous time really as on the Saturday morning, whilst walking around the coffee table, she managed to stick her little right hand in a cup of newly brewed coffee. I looked up to see her screaming and immediately grabbed her and held her hand under a tap and then jumped in the shower with her as the coffee had spilt and I was not sure how much had gone over her body. Whilst in the shower, we noticed that her skin was starting to come away. So we bundled her up and took her straight to the doctor (all amidst her screaming her little lungs off!) where they soaked her hand for a further 20 minutes, put burns cream on it, bandaged it up and sent us off to the mainland. So Saturday was spent at the burns unit in a childrens hospital in Brisbane where my poor baby girl was subjected to the horror of having her terribly blistered hand dealt with - which involved them cutting away what skin they could and then dressing it with some silver stuff and bandaging it up again. We made the decision to return to Straddie as I felt the distraction of lots of people around would do her good. She slept like an angel that evening much to my surprise.

Sunday we headed back to Brisbane and Stevie took Peter and Harriet for a quick look around Brisbane and then we had a final dinner with them. Imogen was fine (I drugged her four hourly) and Mum babysat. In fact, she has become so attached to Mum since we have been here that sometimes I think she is better off with Mum rather than me! Yesterday was a traumatic day all round with a dressing change at the outpatients for baby Imogen and then Peter and Harriet's departure. We had a dreadful night last night as I think her burn is starting to itch now that it is healing. They expect that she will make a full recovery although they will know more in two weeks. If there is one thing to learn from this - DO NOT leave tea and coffee anywhere near the little ones - I am amazed by how much damage it does.

Maddie started at her new group at Lady Gowrie. We came back for her orientation last Wednesday. So this week will be the first week I drop her off and leave her there. Her teacher's name in Amy and she seemed very nice. Maddie's potty training is going well although I seem to be doing it the Australian way, which I totally disagree with. They seem to just swap between nappies, knickers and pull ups and I find myself putting her in nappies if we are going out, knickers around the house and she will go to Lady Gowrie in pull ups. It just seems the easiest thing to do, although probably confusing for Maddie but it seems to suit us OK. We have got over the refusing to poo in the loo hurdle so that was my main concern.

Stevie is well - a bit sad to see his brother go, but I can understand that completely. We are in the middle of deciding whether to buy or carry on renting - there was even the idea of buying on Stradbroke being bandied around but I am sure we will be more realistic in the long run. I need to move out of this place as it is just too small, the stairs freak me with the girls and the neighbours this week have started work on their house so this is the second day of drilling, digging, hammering etc that starts at 6.30am and goes until 6, with the height of the crescendo seeming to occur during the lunch time nap. They have moved the house forward, raised it and are building under so a long term project that I am not sure I can live through!

So there you go - the dramas of our life over the last week or so. Our next two weeks will be spent trying to survive the ordeal of the dressing changes every three days...

Love and miss you all

Rachel

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Site Feed