tried epi-pen

We have never been in the situation where we needed to administer an epi-pen for Declan (which we are VERY thankful for) although we always have to carry 2 pens with him at all times..just in case.
It makes me feel sick just thinking about jabbing an epi-pen into my son but I hope that if and when it is needed I will be able to do it without hesitation and not even have to think.

Epi-pen's have used by dates and when they expire the usual routine is to hand it back to the chemist so that they can dispose properly of the sharps even if it has not been used.

So when we noticed that one of Declan's epi-pen's had expired we thought, if it's just going to be chucked out by chemist staff anyway why don't we practice on an orange or mandarin to see how hard you really have to push down on it, if we can feel the click when the needle is correctly inserted etc.

Tonight Andy tried the expired epi-pen on a orange, we were both very shocked and surprised to see the needle after coming back out of the orange...the whole whopping 2cm of needle!!!!! :O

Andy said that he felt the click and as you can probably see from the photo he was pushing quite hard into the orange.

I'm glad we did this little exercise,those little bit's of information might just make the difference. Thank goodness we have the technology and intelligence in this day and age to have such a life saver of a pen!

It also reminds me that we are still yet to buy a trainer epi-pen for family and friends to have a look at and practice with.

Here's hoping we never have to use one for real

plip, plop, drip, drop- rainy day crafts

With the rainy weather coming and going for the last month now, our house has embraced the opportunity of craft time around the theme of rain!! surprise surprise
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needless to say it can be hard at times to entertain little ones and big ones for that matter when outside is wet, wet wet and all one can hear is the pitter patter or gush pour of the ever constant rain :S
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one must muster all their energy into coming up with activities, idea's, opportunities and play, at a time when imagination and

creative spirit may be the only way to avoid going bonkers!!
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I wanted to share some of the crafts we have made

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Plip, Drop, Drip, Drop rain

To go with the rain theme, as well as the obsession my children now seem to have with Umbrella's I came up with this craft activity. .
I gave them both a sheet of white paper with a silhouette outline of 2 children cuddling. Cut out an Umbrella out of patterned patter and put it all together with glue.
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After supplying them with blue paint, paint brushes, chucky glitter shapes, gloopy glue and white cotton wool balls- they had everything to make their very own magic rain creation.
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I found this cute little rhyme to set the scene for them:
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Plip, plop, drip, drop
The rain begins to patter.
Plip, plop, drip, drop

Watch the raindrops spatter. 

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  Plip, plop, drip, drop

  The puddles are shinny and round.

  Plip, plop, drip, drop

  They're scattered all over the ground.

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  It was immensely cute when Declan suggested that the two  

  children where none other than "my cute sister Thalia and

  Declan" -I love that my munchkins have a special little bond

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  Thalia loved playing with the glitter and Declan had a great time making the puddles with paint and glitter combined, even a rainy cloud made an appearance.

The cotton wool clouds just weren't Thalia's thing, typical girl sticking to all things bling!

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Rainy weather man
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Declan and I got our crafty hands together to make our very own weather man and a very stylish weather man is he. Okay so he might be made out of a toilet roll but he is transformed with much imagination and love to become what he is today sitting on a shelf very proudly, he even has his own custom made umbrella :P
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 Here he is in all his pride styled and created for the rainy weather.

Declan had much delight in sprinkling the rain (rice grains) over him to create the pitter patter of rain.

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Obsessions of the heart:

Simply too cute not to share

Firstly Thalia's creation to the left was created after Thalia found this very special bubble picture in our collage box.

Thalia is besotted with all things bubbles at the moment and can relate most things in life back to bubbles :)
So when she found this picture she was very quick to show mummy, a decision was made with Mummy's help to stick the picture on a piece of paper for painting time.
Thalia enjoyed using one of her other favorite items...FOOD  to paint away and create her own apple bubbles.
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 She was so amazed when I cut the apple in twain and said we could use it for painting, my little miss piggy may of been offended at first that I would use precious food in such a way but she soon grew to love the way the apple made shapes on her special paper.:)

 Declan's creation's above also show some of his obsessions of late.

 The painting up the top has been titled by Declan "the fly and the hungry frog"

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 Declan stared his painting by painting a big green blob and asked "what animal is green mummy?" to  which I answered "a frog". Declan quickly made it his task to create a frog crafting his green blob into not just any frog, but 'the hungry frog' from one of his favorite books.

In the book the frog has big googly eyes so Declan told Mummy in good time that he must have some googly eyes for his frog.

Mummy whipped out some plastic crafty eyes from the cupboard and off he went.

Soon he added 4 long legs, a red tounge and the frogs lunch- a fly who also desperately needed googly eyes :P

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It was so cute to see his mind at work, focusing on his special goal to create a much loved character from the pages of a book.

Although the result of the journey is adorable, it was the journey that hit that special spot.

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The painting below shows a one minute painting by Declan which after much consideration he slushed his hand in the blue paint, slapped a little hand print on his paper and exclaimed "my best colour is blue!" :)

He is certainly making it clear  in more than one way lately his love for the colour blue: choosing clothes, pointing out blue objects and having a soft spot for all things blue.

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It's a wonderful thing to see both my children's personalities coming out more and more each day and crafting is one of the many ways in which they can express themselves, we love craft!!!

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So what crafts are you doing today??

We looked! And we saw him! The Cat in the Hat!

The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house. All that cold cold wet day.

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The first smidgen of an extraordinary book by the one and only Dr. Seuss!!
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At this point in time I would like to say something very important.... If you have never read a Dr Seuss book SHAME ON YOU! and if you have never heard of Dr Seuss I am afraid that you NEVER have lived. If you haven't, you should,these things are fun and fun is good :)

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Only a Dr. Seuss fan would understand.

Lucky for my Dr. Seuss loving munchkins and I, we had the opportunity to share a very special Dr. Seuss experience with some friends.

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Our local shopping centre put on a Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat concert for children in the school holidays for a week so we made it our priority to be there.

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A few of our friends got together the week before in preparation for the big day.

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One of the mother's (otherwise known now as 'Cat in the Hat hat making extraordinaire' :P) had a great idea of helping the kids make their very own Cat in the Hat hat's to wear to the concert.

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Somehow,this said Mummy made up a template for the hats, how they would be put together after the kids had a chance to get to work at crafting their hats....the hat templates even had the stylish ability to have the extra special kink/bend that is seen in the
book itself !!

There was much enjoyment as the children applied the gloopy glue, sparkles, feathers and squiggles to their very own hat templates..waiting for the master hatter to do her magic and put the pieces together for 5 very special little Dr
Seuss fans to wear (I hear she had a little help from a male friend mad Hatter !)

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The day came and the children were very proud to dub themselves mini Cat in the Hats as they entered the much anticipated concert.

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There were lots of owwww's ad ahhhh's as the munchkins saw the Cat in the Hat himself, we danced the Cat boogie, listened to the wonderful 'Green Eggs and Ham' being read and shared the Dr. Seuss love with all present.

At times things resembled a 3 year old mosh pit :P

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After the concert we continued to push our prams of little Seuss fans through the shopping centre, each one parading their hat off with pride, all the way to the playground for "intermission".

After a short play and a quick trip to the loo's we were on our way....Meet and Greet with Cat in the Hat!!!!

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Very special photo's were taken and some very tired children in need of a bite to eat before bed piled into cars for a McDonald's feast. Following a lot of Seuss talk, nibbling, munching, slurping and crunching the munchkins found some energy and couldn't resist a play in the McDonald's playground before departing.

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A fantastic day had by all, I don't know who was more need of a nap...the mummy's or their babies but needless to say we enjoyed ourselves to the max -

the smiles, laughs, giggles, dancing feet, bopping, jumping, some tears, cuddles, kisses and meals between friends was all worth it!!!

Allergies suck!!!!

Most of my readers will probably already now that Declan deals with his life threatening egg and nut allergies in day to day life, as well as his asthma and Eczema.

Friday was his follow up allergy prick test and check up to see how he is doing, also to test Thalia for allergies now that she is old enough for the prick test to be accurate.

D day (Friday) soon turned into dooms day as the results started to unravel :(

Declan's prick test soon showed that his egg and peanut allergy numbers had doubled since June last year and as we thought his dust mite stayed the same at 13. Peanut being the more severe jumping from a 11 grading to a whopping 25 and egg nearly as severe jumping from 11 to 22!!!

Both the allergist, Andy and I were surprised to see the numbers rise and everyone expected a decrease if anything, according to the allergy specialist Declan's home life and food are very safe and what we have been actively doing for him the past year is all good.

The rise in numbers is apparently due to the exposure he gets though other people ......simple things like hugging, kissing, playing and spending time with people who have recently consumed egg and or nuts, who may not realise that even 6 hrs after eating these foods they can pass on egg and/or nut particles to Declan and in turn boost his vulnerability to a very bad reaction.
If his number's continue to rise the epi pen may not work on him in the situation where he needs it to overcome a bad reaction, this is the hardest thing to stomach and it's so hard to even type it.

For the prick test alone he needed more than the usual 'magic spray' to stop the reaction and itching....it wasn't until they had given his oral medicine (equivalent to an epi pen) and a tablet that he started to look like himself again.
It was very scary to see him that way.

To help the situation I am currently trying to find a anaphylaxis playgroup where Declan can have a safe environment to play and socialise, as well as having the bonus of meeting other families who are living a life similar to ours.
We are brainstorming all different ways to possibly lower his numbers....prayer is a big one!

On a positive Thalia's prick test was all clear...YAY!!!!!!
No food allergies, dust mite, animal allergies or grass/tree/mould allergy's :)

Thalia is at risk of getting a dust mite allergy due to her very dry skin gene and bad eczema.
The specialist after seeing Thalia let us know that Thalia and Declan's eczema were both diet related.....grrr more food issues!

So my little munchkins have now been put on the moderate elimination diet (thank goodness it not a strict one). This means that they can have no preservatives, colour's, flavour's, most processed foods, a well as a whole chunk of veggies and fruits and a selection of meats!
They are not allergic to all these foods but are simply intolerant so it's nothing compared to the severe allergy's Declan faces.
There are also not items we have to make flee from our house and Andy and I are welcome to eat them.

it's actually easier to list the items that they can have because the list is soooo much shorter :0

Saturday after the tests proved to be a interesting challenge, doing all the food shopping with the new diet commencing almost took me the whole day...Mrs flanery's, health food shops, coles, Aldi, Woolies and the butcher, thankfuly mum and dad came for the ride and made things a little easier.

I'm also very blessed to have a lovely friend who is the encyclopedia of the elimination diet due to her son's intolerance's, who is helping me get started....THANK YOU!!! you know who you are ox

Both the kids were weighed as part of the check up and are healthy weights, Declan at 14kg and Thalia at 10kg. The allergist always checks Declan's height due to the risk of stinted growth for the steroids in his medication and creams, they don't seem to be affecting his height at all though and he is currently 96.5cm.

So there you have it our D day in a nutshell (for lack of a better word)

Here I am again trying to get a shopping list together and plan menu's ready for the week ahead but I'm feeling much more confident this week about it all and I know we can do it.

God never gives us more than we can deal with!!! I just have to keep reminding myself.

Homemade kitchen play food for fun!

A couple of weeks ago I sat at my laptop, tired eyes not yet fully functioning in the morning with coffee in hand while the munchkins were already greeting the day with energy and enthusiasm.

My early morning routine of flicking on face book while having a much needed coffee was very inspiring on this particular day... as I sifted through my news feed and peeped at my friends updated album's I saw an activity so simple, creative, delightful, fun, inviting, educational and a bonus of being on the very cheap side of play tools for children.
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It was then that I decided to go to the shops to pay that bill that I had been staring at for over a week, just for the fact that a visit to the art/craft shop nearby the post office would be very convenient :)

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My friend Vanessa had posted some photo's of her son (20 months) playing beautifully with some homemade play food
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what you need= wool, felt and some utensils that you will find in your kitchen!!!

So simple and full of good points: .

• interesting textures for little hands to feel and explore
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• a choice of colour's to aid in visual appeal and colour recognition
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• enables you to shape your own food using a creative and/or imaginative outlook
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• You can size your felt foods accordingly, to make the foods safe for the child's needs - making it age appropriate
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• an introduction to the cooking world and food prep in the kitchen
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• object recognition through different foods represented.

Vanessa, your a gem!!! as you can clearly see for the photo's above my kids had a fab. time with their new play foods, making dinner for the whole family and serving it up.
I'd like to take this opportunity to let you know just how creative my friend Vanessa actually is...and invite you to take part in her crafts and crafts from others, all lovingly made to go to an awesome cause.
Go check out the face book page she created a few weeks back here :
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crafts-for-Funds-Pakistan-Flood-Relief-2010/154998587853414
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This initiative has been launched to raise funds for the victims of the recent floods in Pakistan. These floods hit close to home for Vanessa and her family as her in laws live in Pakistan, although thankfully not the affected area.
After Vanessa visiting Pakistan herself last year it's feels close to home and she can imagine how the scenario has affected many people.
The lack of attention that the media if giving the Pakistan floods simply made Vanessa feel that no one cares and/or knows about the devastation of these floods.
So Vanessa is doing all she can from her home in Australia to tell those she can and gather support for those who need it.
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It began with a few Pakistani handcrafted shawls and is growing thanks to friends who are donating crafts of their own to be sold for the cause. Further contributions are needed, as this is a cause that will be ongoing.
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The face book page above also shares photo's, links, video's, news articles and facts in relation to the Pakistan floods.
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Simply go have a peek for yourself and see the fabulous crafts that are on offer!
If you would rather make a donation directly to the cause then you can do so through Paiman Alumni Trust at this
site:
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http://www.paimantrust.org/DonateNow
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All money raised through this page with go to Paiman Alumni Trust to be used for flood relief.
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Or simply contact Vanessa through the Craft for Funds Pakistan flood relief face book page if you have any of your own crafts to donate for the cause :)

The face book page even made it to Vanessa's local
newspaper to share the love-
http://www.greaterdandenongweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/group-has-flood-aid-all-stitched-up/1958595.aspx
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Before life as a Yummy Mummy Vanessa was a childcare worker hence her wonderful idea's for play spaces/ toys. This theme also flows into her crafts that are available from the face book page- soft sensory hand made baby rattles, kitted baby/infant toddler clothing, custom baby mobiles and I'm sure there is much more to come in the near future so it's worth the look!
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lastly please take a minute out of your day to thank God for the things that you have and think about those in Pakistan who are in dire need as you read this.
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thank you ox

Bringing the outdoors in

I'm sure we all have those days where the weather is not kind enough to make it a good outside play day, weather it be rain, wind or heat.

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In most cases this situation gives children the crazies and everyone seems to verge on insane!!
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....well this is what happened to us last week, the rain was thumping down on the roof and it was windy, of course all my munchkins wanted to do was plead to go outside so I made a bargain.....we all got to get dressed in wet weather clothes to make a quick trip outside to collect a selection of leaves to be the subjects of our art morning.

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We selected different shaped leaves, each with their own texture and character. Spiky, smooth, fury, long, thin, fat, strong, fragile, light etc

On arrival back in the house after removing wet shoes, shaking umbrella's and drying off with a towel we got to work. Carefully drying our leaves while we examined them closer.

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The paints and paper came out and I demonstrated how if we paint a leaf all over and put it on the paper giving it a firm but gentle push, when we take the leaf away we can see a leaf pattern on the paper.

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Well their eye's lit up and they wanted to have a go, Thalia needed a little help of course but Declan enjoyed exploring the different shapes and patterns he could make with the leaves.

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Our morning turned from insane ranting and pleading to
happiness and fun as we brought outside in to play :)
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The munchkins were also very pleased when a few days later they spotted some big new spring flowers in the garden. Declan was quick to tell us that they had grown bigger and bigger because of the rain and had decided to pop out and say hello.

too cute sock puppets

Sock Puppets - a fun, creative, imaginative activity that is cheap and affordable and very very much loved!

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Secretly I have a stash of Funky looking socks brought from a cheap store waiting for the perfect day....a day where noses are running, the weather is not so bright and the house is starting to go just that little bit insane....Volla..."come on kids lets make some silly sock puppets, who want's to help mummy" :P

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The munchkins had great delight when Mummy got out some of her special button containers, lots of "ohhh's" and "ahhh's" as they picked out the perfect eyes and nose for their puppets.

It was Declan's idea to use ribbon to make a mouth, so out came the ribbons and the selection was made.

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They were eager to play with their puppets and see the finished result of their faces, off the went to prepare for puppet play, getting excited each time mummy sowed on another button.

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Thalia decided she wanted a "happy" puppet and Declan thought hard before he let me know his puppet was "going to be be crazy".

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Mummy arranged the mouths accordingly to the puppets personalities and no sooner were they taken away to be the objects of play for the afternoon...reading books, sharing kisses and cuddles, picking up things in their mouths, talking in extra special voices with help from little imaginations, introducing themselves to special toys, having tours of the house and so on.

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The puppets now live with our other special toys and both my munchkins take much joy and pride in wearing their special friend on their arm for a play date! :)

Daddy wearing Thalia's happy puppet as Thalia shares her book

kisses x

posing with her puppet

Declan and his crazy friend! :P