Jude’s little life is a busy one. He makes me tired just thinking of everything he gets up to!! Jude has more social events then Dale and I put together. Life is full, no wonder he sleeps 12 hours a night, and 2 hours most days!!
The last month has been spent hosting baby Aksel and his parents, Michelle and Simon for a weekend. Whilst June didn’t really enjoy Aksel following him around everywhere and using his toys (that will have to change Jude!), there were lots of kisses and cuddles given and received over the long weekend.
There has been a little bit of sickness (colds, chest infections, lots of temperatures and possible even a flu), which we have resided to believe this is a given when you go to care 3 days a week. But, the biggest drama this month was our first major accident. Jude must have missed a step on the climbing castle at care and went tumbling down and put his tooth through his lip. I received the call and was there within 3 mins (benefit of Rocky) to find my little boy covered from head to toe in blood, very upset, with a crowd of staff surrounding him wanting to dish out cuddles. Heart breaking! But, after a verse of twinkle twinkle little star, cuddles from mum, and two ice blocks later all that was left to worry about was the St Patrick’s Day party and the olives that had Jude’s name written all over them.
Man, it must have hurt though as the bruising that came out over the next few days was horrible! Thankfully it was all internal, and his teeth were ok. The director couldn't believe how calm I was. Possibly due to the fact that I thought I would have already had the first trip to A&E by now – thankfully not that day, and hopefully not in the near future – touch wood!
On my goodness, where do I start! The last 3-4 months have been an experience to say the least and this blog unfortunately has come off second best. So, I am sorry to all those who have been giving me ‘gentle’ reminders to posting something, ‘anything’, on this site, and to those who perhaps used the ‘emotive angle’…., yes I feel guilty so here is the update…….
Our little man is now 18 months old (well, in 4 days time to be exact). He is big, very very very tall, and even though he is a massive lump to carry around weighing in ~13kg, this is the lesser evil as he is also a very confident and adventurous boy who wants to explore this world at a VERY FAST pace! Why walk, when you can run?? Silly mummy.
Jude spent most of December either with his Nanna, Karma, or with his Grandma and Grandad, Kath and Peter due to being so very unwell and the need to keep him out of care! To back track a little, Jude had been suffering from tonsillitis ever since he started care. He would pick up something trivial like a cold, or even an ear infection (yes, this is now trivial to us after experiencing tonsillitis), and 1 day later, up go the tonsils. Our little boy was on one antibiotic after another, and we were considering buying shares in panadol! However, on Friday 27th November, after 2 months of Jude being in pain, 10 trips to the doctor, 5 different opinions, and a hospital admission for a septic work up to see if there was something else going on, we received our referral to an ENT paediatric specialist. All it took was a temp of 39 degrees with enlarged, white, pussy tonsils while mid way through a course of a very reliable antibiotic. Geez, these doctors drive a hard bargain!
Off to Brisbane (due to a 4 month wait for a private ENT in Rocky), into the ENT and 4 minutes later, Jude was booked into surgery for not only his tonsils, but also adenoids and bilateral grommets. Not that you want to be excited for your child to have a general anaesthetic and surgery, but Dale and I were jumping for joy! A little bit of a wait for a few major things like a trip to Thailand for my ‘oldess/longest friend’s’ wedding, Christmas and a very busy time of year for Dale, and Jude was off to Brisbane again for the surgery on the 7th January at only 16 months of age; much much earlier then the average due to his severity. Our brave little guy!
Horrific. That would be the word I would use to describe the experience. In fact, to describe the whole period of time from the 7th January – 19th January. It was my first time as a parent, when I decided for about a 5 minute period that I didn’t want to do this anymore through shear pain at watching someone I love so much go through that much trauma. And to make it even worse, Jude didn’t understand what was happening, and why he was in so much pain. He lost weight for the first time in his life (I can hear you gasping paed dietitians), he refused all medication so they had to be forced down, which resulted in more trauma for all parties, he took minimal fluids, minimal food and hardly slept. I remember my mum, dad and I all celebrating day 9 post op when Jude ate a ¼ piece of toast. Poor Dale had to go back to work 3 days after Jude’s operation and I don’t think got much sleep himself with all the worry. But, after day 9 came and went, the recovery was very speedy and he was back to his normal, in fact, BETTER then normal self for a few days at Nanna’s while mum and dad had a bit of a get away.
After watching Jude go through that experience, I am thankful my tonsils have behaved themselves during my lifetime. I also can confidently say that Jude’s pain threshold is massive, as his ENT said they are some of the worse and most infected tonsils (and clogged ears too I might add) he has ever seen…, and he had a full head of grey hair!!!
Even though is was not a very nice month of January, we were lucky enough to catch up with a lot of people as we had to stay in Brisbane for the month of January. Jude was able to see his cousins, Bella and Maddy. As well as Aunty Julie, Aunty Em and Uncle Rors, lots of the Gibbs crew including great uncle and aunties (some for the first time), second cousins, Great Nanna and Great Grandad, daily time with his own Grandma and Grandad (thanks mum and dad for letting us take over your house) and lots of time with Nanna (thank you Karma!), Amelia, Michelle, Simon and Aksel, Bec, Beck and Annie (thanks for the kisses and cuddles Annie!!), and The Harrison Family including seeing Chloe on her 2nd birthday which was very special! We went to Lone Pine, every park in Brisbane (or so it seemed), every shopping centre in Brisbane (that is confirmed), Southbank three times, cafes and restaurants all over the city, and a few workplaces to say hi to friends and family. All in all, it was a very busy month with lots of lovely high’s to help even out the many many low’s of being unwell. Thank you to everyone from Jude, Dale and I for all your help and support, thoughts, meals, babysitting and love!!
