Eli has had a hair trim from a friend, some touch ups from mom, and now today, his first proper haircut at a hairdresser. He did surprisingly well, and seemed to go into that, “Oh, this is so nice I’ll just lean in to it,” mode.

Some little fuzzy balls + a paper towel roll = loads of posting fun. The roll is now taped to the wall with a bowl underneath to catch the balls. Every now and then through the day he spends some time posting the fuzzy balls.

1) When your wife (with the more sensitive sense of taste and smell) says that there is something wrong with the fish, and that it is making her mouth and throat tingle, listen to her….listen carefully.

2) When there is a slight tingle on the end of you tongue when eating the fish you made for supper, you should assume that there actually is something wrong with the fish (refer back to point 1). rather then carry on eating gung-ho.

3) Scrombroid poisoning is a type of food poisoning due to spoiled fish, in particular most local cases involve Cape yellowtail (hey, guess what we were eating…) This causes what looks like an allergic reaction with skin becoming hot red and blotchy, along with the other typical food poisoning symptoms.

About 1 hour after supper my head went red and I thought I was just flushed until Donné said, “I’ve never seen you looking like that before.” Okay, closer inspection….hmmm…my chest and arms are going red. It looks like I’ve developed the fastest sunburn ever, while inside. Okay, this is a bit worrying, time to refer to the source of all medical knowledge, Google. Donné turned up a useful article about poisonous marine animals which has a useful section on Scombroid poisoning, which fortunately said that there is nothing to worry about and it will pass in a few hours (which it did, helped along by some antihistamine as mentioned in the article).

And that is your fun fact for the day.

Eli and I share the spoils of the meringue mixing bowl

Today I have been married to my love for 11 years – 11 years of love, fun and happiness.

Dear Donné,

My love, it is such a privilege to be married to you, to wake up to you each morning, and to share your life with you. Life is full of amazing, challenging, and mundane things, and I love that we face them all together. I know that you are always there for me, that you are on my side no matter what is going on.

Thank you for the love you bring to our family. I often think that you are the heart of our home (yes, even when you’re losing it with obstructive kids when getting out of the car). You are a beautiful mother to our children, and I’m lucky that we get to raise children together.

God has blessed us so greatly, from long before we were even in love. We are blessed to live with his love in our marriage, and I pray that we would always rely on Him to keep the love flowing. Our love is a reflection of the love he has for us and our family.

I look forward to many years with you, and look forward to the time fondly, but also with respect that each day is precious. I will hug you and tell you that I love you every day. I will thank you for supper and washing my clothes, looking after our children and caring for us all. I will walk with you and hold your hand. I will cherish each day with you, and the time we steal away to be with each other. I will stop to appreciate the coffee and special time with you.

You are my love, and I love you dearly.

With all my love,
Duncan

Eli has been pretty good about taking all his medicine and now we’ve trained him to hold the nebulizer….if there is a video playing on the tablet…and just for a short while 😉

A little while back Aunt Keren’s car was stolen and Grace has been very concerned about whether they have found it yet. Donné was driving and asked Grace what she was doing, “I’m looking for Keren’s car,” she says looking out the window. When she sees a car that looks like Keren’s she asks, “Is that Keren’s car?” and every now and then asks, “Have they found Keren’s car yet?”

After a bath Grace stands wiggling her privates with her fingers and says, “Look mommy, I can wag my vagina.”

We use smacks as a consequence for certain behaviours, and do our best to follow a particular pattern when applying them. The one day I gave Grace a smack, which turned out to be a light one. She turns to me and says with a serious face and flat voice, “That smack meant nothing.”

We’ve been very blessed and Eli was discharged this evening, and is back home and sleeping in his own bed – thank you Lord for hearing our prayers!

He responded well to the treatment and in the doctor’s words, “These are different lungs today.” The blood works came back and it turns out it wasn’t RSV as suspected, but Rhinovirus (a common cold), which is why he recovered so quickly. Eli was a champ and did so well with all the prodding, poking and check-ups.

We’re just happy to have him home and for Donné to be able to get some sleep in her own bed too.

Thank you Lord for looking after him.

We have been very fortunate that the only reason we’ve been to hospital so far is to have babies, but unfortunately Eli was booked in today. He has a chest bug, probably RSV.

Fortunately he is responding well to the treatment and the doctor is very happy. He might look really sick with the oxygen tubes in his nose and the drip needle strapped to his forearm, but he is bouncing and happy – just frustrated that he can’t move further than the length of the tube, and disturbed by the constant checking up on him.