New Life, Love and Burying the Hatchet

New life.....

New life is so precious and something we should never take for granted, as my little 8 month old son sits next to me in his rocker, waving at everything (he has just learnt to wave, although he probably doesn't realise what he is going just yet) and talking away so sweetly....Love you Little Dude...

I had the pleasure of visiting a girlfriend and her newborn in hospital on Friday. Girlfriend is looking great and her little girl is divine.

Poor thing was taken from her mother straight away and put into an oxygen tent, where she still remains at the moment with a condition known as she has Hyaline Membrane Disease which means she has air leaked into the membrane surrounding the lung and so when she takes a breathe the lungs can't expand fully and she has to work very hard to breathe.

It was so hard seeing her in her little oxygen box, but take comfort in the thought that she is in good hands. You feel useless at times like this when there is nothing you can really do, but be there for her Mum, Dad and little Brother.

I just hope that is isn't too long before this new family are all together again under the one roof.

Love....

Michael, Ryan and I attended a gorgeous backyard wedding yesterday afternoon. The wedding of one of Michael's oldest friends (from Tasmania) to his now gorgeous wife. Wayne and Tracey celebrated their nuptials in front of family and friends in the prettiest garden....

On the arm of her father, Tracey looked radiant in a gorgeous handmade lilac/purple gown. Equally as gorgeous was her little escorts. Her two sons Jack and Blake, in their little white shirts and vests, and Mikayla her flowergirl. For their ages the kids were so well behaved.

In between the ceremony and the reception we thought we would take our little on home for a nap. This didn't happen with my little man screaming for the entire hour we were home.

So I fed him in the carpark of the reception in the hope it would settle him and lull him to sleep. This didn't work, but doing laps up and down bumpy paved paths and over grassy hills did. My little one finally petered out around 7:30pm after me doing laps of the tavern and golf course. He slept like and angel in his pram until and piper came in and started playing the bagpipes. A gift from the Bride to her Groom, to celebrate his Scottish ancestry.

The Bride and Groom and their guests dined and danced the evening away at a local tavern. Very pretty grounds as it is on a golf course with a rather large duck pond. It was a very family orientated evening with 4 - 5 newborn to toddlers sharing the occasion.

Burying the Hatchet...

It was at Wayne and Tracey’s wedding that the hatchet was buried between myself and a friend, Rachel. (I don't think I will call her an old friend, as I have only known her about 5 years).

This friend was to be one of my bridesmaids when Michael and married, only a few monetary issues raised their ugly heads only weeks before we were to walk down the aisle, with some fairly heated comments being passed back and forth, to the point I didn't even want her in the same room as I at our reception. We hadn't spoken for two years.

She was my bridesmaid from hell.

Her now husband, Justin and mine always kept in touch, but I was adamant I didn't want anything to do with her. I certainly didn't want to be attending anything social if she were to be there, cut off the nose to spite the face type thing. Apparently Rach always asked after me, but she had disrespected me so much I didn't want to know.

Well yesterday things changed. Maybe we have both changed, grown up more maybe. Rachael made the effort to come over and say hi, see how I was and also meet my little man, of whom she hadn't even seen yet at the ceremony. It was only brief, but it was a start. It was kinda weird for me, a bit awkward as I didn't know how I was feeling, or how I would feel towards someone I had so much resentment for. But I handled it. It didn't feel as bad as I thought it would.

Fast forward to the reception.... most of the guests had arrived. Justin (Wayne's best man) and Rach arrived not long before the bride and groom and mingled a little while. I don't really think either of them knew that many of the guests. Again we eventually ended up talking...I was feeling more comfortable with this.

By the end of the night we were basically inseparable, like nothing had happened (although her words will always be locked away in my mind). We did kinda mention our issue. Rach mentioning that we had all done/said some horrible things (in my mind I was like 'what did 'I' do wrong initially, I knew what she had done and said, but not me) but only to say that the past is exactly that, THE PAST...

I feel like we have gottten over things and moved on, or as Michael pointed out, maybe it was just me that hadn't moved on.

Girlfriends in Your Life

This poem was just sent to me by a girlfriend I hold very close to my heart, I think it epitomises everything about girlfriends in our lives.

GIRLFRIENDS IN YOUR LIFE

When I was little, I used to believe in the concept of one best friend,and then I started to become a woman. And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up, you will see the best in many friends.

One friend is needed when you're going through things with your man

Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mum.

Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be.

One friend will say let's pray together,

Another let's cry together,

Another let's fight together,

Another let's walk away together.

One friend will meet your spiritual need,

Another your shoe fetish,

Another your love for a good laugh, another will be with you in your season of confusion,

Another will be your clarifier,

Another the wind beneath your wings

Another your mentor.

Another your birthing partner (this one wasn't on the list, but is very close to my heart, love you Nanna S)

But whatever their assignment in your life, on whatever the occasion, on whatever the day, or wherever you need them, whether to meet you with their gym shoes on and hair pulled back, or to hold you back from making, a complete fool of yourself ........

Those are your best friends.

It may all be wrapped up in one woman, but for many it's wrapped up in several.

One from 7th grade, one from high school, several from the college years, a couple from old jobs, on some days your mother, on others your sisters, and on some days your daughters.

Time passes, Distance separates, Children grow up, Love waxes and wanes. Hearts break, Careers end, Jobs come and go, Colleagues forget favours, Men don't call when they say they will BUT...........

Girlfriends are always there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach. The world wouldn't be the same without them, and neither would we.

When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other. Every day, we need each other still.

I'm an Auntie...YAY!!

Well at 5:27am this morning Michael and I become Auntie Tan and Uncle Mick, and a little cousin for Ryan was born.

Welcome Seth Anton Wright

To Michael and Cecelia, 7lb 1oz and 54cm long. And only a 2 1/2 hour labour.

Steak And (Ryan's) Kidneys

Well we have just gotten in from our appt with Professor Tan at the Women's and Children's Hospital where we have been having regular check ups on Ryan's little kidneys.

At 19 weeks gestation it was found that Ryan's had dialation (narrowing) of both the left and right Renal Pelves (tube that runs between the kidney and the bladder). Not an uncommon occurence in babies, but nonetheless something that needed to be monitored.

A scan again at 28 weeks showed that the right pelve was infact correcting itself, however the left one wasn't. Scans were done again when Ryan was 5 days old. Not a lot had changed. Right pelve improving, left still lagging behind. So we have been having scans and tests done every few months to track progess. The lasts tests that were done had shown a slight detioration in the left kidney, still pretty meaty, but retaining a little fluid.

Ryan is now 7 1/2 months old and we our last lot of tests done last week and yesterday with our specialist appt with Professor Hock this morning. A catheter test showed that Ryan isn't suffering from any urinary reflex (YAY), although a NMAG (nuclear dye test) done yesterday showed that Ryan's left kidney isn't working quite as much as the right. In a perfect world the kidneys should be sharing the load 50/50...Ryan's left kidney is functioning at 49% with the right at 51%, this is within norm and we along with his specialist are not too concerned. It is just a matter of keeping an eye on things and seeing how they develop (or not). So in 6 months time we go back for another ultrasound and a check up.

Just like playing Dress Ups

YAY....Mission Complete...

In about 4 weeks time I will be turning the big 35!!!! For some god unknown reason I decided that I wanted a party, a Costume Party. A WILD WILD WEST Party.

Well tonight after work I popped into the city to try on my cossie....MWAAAH...all sorted although I am not going to share the details here til after the event, sorry girls and guys.

Now I just have to get my toosh into gear and organise everything else, time and cash willing that is. I have booked a frozen cocktail machine for the night too, which should be fun, and oh so tasty...mmm. Also have my pinata sitting here waiting to be filled and hung too.

Have got blue check gingham tableclothes made up, but still want to get some haybails (for seating), old horseshoes (for a game of horseshoes) and even want to find some kids hobby horses, to maybe have hobby horses races with.

I can't wait to see all my great friends have a WILD evening in their WILD WILD WEST cossies.

Mmmm...just got to think about throwing something together for my little boy too....8 months old, think he would make the perfect little indian baby....ok, thinking caps on.

A Morning of Changing Faces and Girly Get Togethers..

What a busy/tiring day I had today. My morning started at about 6:10am, which with Ryan is becoming the norm. Today we headed into the city to try on costumes for my party in a few weeks time. It is so much fun dressing up and taking on a different persona...

My gorgeous man honed in on his cossie straight away, god it was so easy and he looks GREAT, but girls I ain't giving anything away. I had a costume in mind, but the sales (if that is what you call the people that work there, although they aren't selling are they, they are hiring) girl thought it was a little too big, althoughI had hired it once before, so she suggested that I pop back in Wednesday after to work to try on something else she had in mind....cool, I could do that, no dramas. So my man is kitted out for my WILD WILD WEST evening, I just have to look after myself and the little dude, Ryan.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with a great bunch of girls, enjoying each others company and great food. It was an afternoon where I could be me, not Ryan's Mum, as Ryan was at home, or out visiting with his Dad. It is nice to be able to go out and not feel guilty. I love meeting up with this bunch of chickens, we can be ourselves, share our troubles and laugh with each other and know we are not being judged...which I am sure wouldn't happen normally with a group of women.

We try to meet up regulary, which I think is great, we all lead such different lives, and all have different interests, but it was one common link that bought us together, that of getting married. We all, and I am PROUD to say this met through a website. We should never close ourselves off to other mediums as ways of making new friends.

I can say that I have met my best friend, and female soul mate through this website, and she and her gorgeous hubby became part of our family when the accepted the honour of becoming Ryan's Godparents.

Girls thanks for a great afternoon.