Jasmine’s teacher spoke to the boy who said the nasty words to Jasmine as well as his teacher. He was made to apologise to her and according to Jasmine he seemed quite upset.
Her teacher also spoke to her class (the boy is in a different class) about being friends.
So overall a good outcome. 
Last night we were sitting down having dinner and Jasmine asked me, ‘Can you go to jail for hurting someone?’. I said yes you can but it depends how you hurt them. I asked her why she asked and it seems a boy in her grade at school has been bugging her a fair bit. She says he has been following her around and spying on her. She says she sees him do it. She said that yesterday he told her he was going to hurt her badly! She seemed quite worried that he might try and hurt her.
I always worry that she might not tell us when something like this happens so I am glad she did. Dean thinks he just has a crush on her or something, which is quite possible, but all the same, it is not acceptable behaviour. She said she has told him before to talk to the hand because the face don’t care, and that sticks and stones may break her bones, etc. but it hasn’t been working. This time we have told her to ignore him from now on, because without a reaction he will soon get bored of treating her that way.
So this morning I had a quick chat with the teacher to let her know what was going on. She was really good about it and said she was going to talk to both Jasmine and the boy in question and his teacher and get to the bottom of it. So I guess we will see what happens over the next day or so.
She is only in grade 1! Why do I get the feeling that she is going to attract this kind of behaviour all through school??? Poor poppet! She is such a concientious little girl who would never treat anyone that way herself. Oh well, that is school kids for you!
Dean did his first Half Marathon last weekend which I thought was pretty impressive! I have done a layout with pics of him crossing the finish line. Poor fella was absolutely knackered, but hammed it up for the finish.
Here is one of me. I had an interview with SBE as I am designer of the month this month there. (25% off selected products!) They asked for a layout of me and I hadn’t done one for a while, so here is my latest about me layout.
Both of these layouts were done with Funkified, now available at DigiscrapArt.com
On the health front, I had an appointment with a rheumatologist earlier this month. He doesn’t think it is lupus as he said I don’t have enough of the symptoms, however at this stage he thinks the most likely diagnosis is Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, which is another auto-immune disorder, not necessarily much better. (Lupus is a connective tissue disease) I have to have a bunch more blood tests done, many of which I haven’t had done before and see him again in 6wks so STILL no answers which I find very frustrating!
Mixed connective tissue disease from what i have read is an auto-immune disorder with a combination of symptoms from various connective tissue diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritus, scleroderma and polymoysitis. Apparently it can develop into one or more of the other connective tissue diseases later on in the progression of the disease.
Anyway, there are a huge number of blood tests I have to have done so hopefully I will have a more firm diagnosis in 6wks time. At least we are getting closer to finding out what is wrong. I have been a fair bit better the last few days, so I am waiting till I have another flare before I have the blood tests done.
Ok, well a few weeks yet! Our finance has been approved for our new house and the building contract has been signed, so it is just a matter of weeks before they can start building! We have to wait for the council approval to come through first.
Dean is still training and ran 18km’s the weekend before last. He is planning on doing a half marathon this weekend. He has also started swimming training and swam some laps at the pool where our kids go to swimming lessons. He ran down there early before the kids classes started and did his laps until we got there.
Jasmine is now in level 4 at swimming and for the first time swam in the 25meter lane. Not only did she swim in that lane but she did many laps without stopping mid way. She was a bit panicky at first as she never used to be able to touch bottom in that lane, but she didn’t realise how much she had grown! Once she realised she could not only touch bottom but could swim an entire lap, she gained a lot more confidence in her swimming ability. I am so proud of her, I wasn’t able to swim 25 meters until I was in grade 4. She is the smallest kid in her class too. The other kids look a couple of years older than her. I told her she is now a better swimmer than me, I was pretty ok (nowhere near as good as Dean) when I was a kid but I couldn’t swim 25meters now anymore. Hopefully once I get my health issues sorted out I can start working on my fitness.
Kyan is still acting up a bit in swimming class, when he saw he had a new teacher he didn’t want to do his lesson but got in and winged, then when Dean walked into the area he started throwing a tantrum! So Dean walked out and he got worse, but I managed to convince him to behave so that Daddy could watch his lesson again. He still won’t put his head in the water unless he does it accidentally when jumping in. He was great at it as a baby, but hates it now. Hopefully he will get over that in time. At least for the time being he is back to doing his lessons. We have started to give Jaz pocket money.
She now gets $1 a week if she cleans up after herself, so no leaving clothes on the floor, cleaning up her toys when she is finished with them, putting her PJ’s away, making her bed keeping her room tidy etc. If she doesn’t do it all she doesn’t get the full amount. She got 80c this week. LOL Last week she decided she was going to save for a Barbie, then it changed to a hoola hoop and this weekend she decided she was going to save for a tamagotchi pet. It will be interesting to see how she goes. We told her if she saved half of the more expensive items we would help her out with the cost. So far she has saved $3.80. She got $1 the first week, $2 from the tooth fairy for a tooth she lost recently and then the 80cents from this week. She is trying harder to clean up after herself so we will see how it goes. Hopefully she will improve and keep it up.
Today is our 14th Wedding Anniversary! Not a bad milestone in today’s day and age.
Dean sent me some lovely flowers today.
Check out the green roses, they are so unusual and SO pretty!
I got this little fella for Dean.
It dances and sings ‘Can’t get enough of your love baby’ by Barry White. He has a goofy sense of humour so thought he might like this one.
It is official (and has been for a few weeks now) our block of land is now officially ours, wahoo!
Our plan has now been drawn up properly so we just need to get a few things finalised before we can start building.
Dean has been training to do a Tri-athalon in April with one of the partners at work. Dean last weekend competed in the Bridge to Brisbane, doing the 10km run. He is doing so well with his training and is really enjoying his increased fitness. He has bought a new bike to replace is 20yr old dinosaur and has started riding as well.
I am not doing as great health wise! My fevers are continuing on a daily basis, as is my anemia, insomnia, exhaustion, and now there are new symptoms adding into the mix. I have a whole host of symptoms that have been going on for some time, including joint pain which up until recently has been pretty managable. However in the last 6mths or so I have been getting really severe bouts of joint pain which has given me a whole new appreciation for what it feels like to suffer from arthritus. Nurophen just isn’t cutting it anymore and I have had to start using stronger anti-inflamitaries. There was one night a few weeks ago, where I was in that much pain that I was in tears.. and it takes a LOT to get me crying. The last time I remember crying due to pain was when I had gall stones.
Now that I have started the heavier anti-inflamitories it is a lot more managable but my joints remain very weak and do get sore if I strain them too much. As well as the increased joint pain I have started getting a lot of lymph node swelling. It started out with just one here and there but over the past 2 or so weeks I have had continual swelling in several lymph nodes. At one point I was sure they were all swollen, I had no idea there were so many lymph nodes in the body! I sure do now!
I have had more blood tests than I can count and there is no sign of lymphoma or anything hideous like that, but my ESR levels are raised, and my platelets are low.
I went to see an endocrinologist last week as my gp thought some of my symptoms might be related to PCOS, but he confirmed that they weren’t (as I suspected) and also made the suggestion that he thought my symptoms were consistent with Lupus. When he mentioned this I told him I have suspected they might be as I have been researching all my symptoms and Lupus fits. As much as I don’t want Lupus, at this point I just want an answer, this has been going on for 2 years almost, and I want to know what is going on so that it can be treated and we know where we are heading.
The endocrinologist wants me to see a Rheumatologist, so after a bit of searching I found a good one who doesn’t have a 6mth wait. I have an appointment on the 14th of October, and I am hanging for it, because my symptoms just seem to be getting worse and worse lately. I am finding it increasingly difficult to get through a working week without needing a day off to recouperate a little. I am spending my weekends resting as much as I can so as to cope with the next week of work. It just isn’t fair on me, Dean or the kids as poor Dean is lumped with the bulk of the household duties because I am too tired to manage much. I try and do as much as I can when my energy levels are better than usual, but that often doesn’t go very far.
It is the wierdest form of tiredness I have ever experienced. When it is really bad, it feels like my body ways a tonne and lifting an arm feels like lifting boxes of weight. Moving from one room to another requires rest at the other end, yes you heard right, REST! 
Thankfully I have only experienced this a few times, but I can feel myself heading that way when I overdo things. The sad part is I am not even exaggerating!
I haven’t done any designing in the last few weeks since I have been more tired than usual. The mojo just doesn’t flow when I am this tired.
Anyway, at this point Oct 14 can’t come quick enough..I just hope the Rheumatologist has some answers and a decent treatment plan for me. As my brother so eloquently put it a few days ago, at least I can eat at Sizzlers! LOL
I thought I would share a layout of my darling 6 year old daughter.
I have used my new Faux Lomo and Dreamy Photo Actions on her photo, although some of the Faux Lomo effect has been cropped afterwards. The kit and wordart is a little sneak peak of a grab bag that will be appearing in store at SBE very soon! Stay tuned for it’s release! It will have 4 juicy products at a nice teeny price! 
It is a bit exciting to be releasing my very first solo grab bag!
Anyway, here is the layout…I just go soft inside every time I look at her. I am SO lucky!
I am just sooo excited. I got my test results back from my last biopsy from after the gluten challenge, and WAHOO I am not Coeliac after all! I am SO relieved, I was not looking forward to being gluten free the rest of my life. I was looking forward to hopefully feeling better, but it seems my symptoms are not caused by Coeliac’s after all.
So now I am working on another theory, fingers crossed I am on the right track as it is relatively easily treated if I am right! It is just such a relief to be able to eat normally. I really hate having to be so careful all the time and the food while some of it is ok, just isn’t the same. I can’t wait to use my bread maker for REAL bread now!
Now I have to really start concentrating on getting my health back on track.. first I will work on getting better, then getting healthy and loosing weight. At least eating low GI won’t be as difficult now and funnily enough, my lactose intolerance bothers me less when I am eating gluten than it does when I am not. Either way I am glad you can take tablets to help with any lactose digestion problems anyway.
So that is good news!
Here are some photos of our block. (click on them to see the bigger version)
This photo was taken from the front of the block, you can just barely see the back fence.
Mum and dad are not quite at the back fence with Jasmine, and Kyan is about halfway down in the light blue.
Taken from about 2/3 from the front of the block showing the back fence. (just!)
Taken from the back of the block, facing the front.
South Eastern View from center of block.
South Western view from center of block.
We went to see the builder on Friday, it is all getting a bit exciting! We have a rough plan of the house. It is off to be drawn up properly now.
Well it is official! We have signed a contract on a new block of land and paid a deposit. Has taken quite a while thanks to difficulties communicating with the seller due to them being out of town but thank goodness we now have it all signed and sealed. YAY! The kids LOVE the block because it is so big and love to run around it the few times we have been there. It is over an acre or for our dutch relatives it is over 4500 m2.
I meant to take a photo of it last weekend but forgot to take the camera, so the photo from the listing will have to do for now. he photo below is mostly of the block next to us, ours is the bit behind the fence.
Here is the map of it (lot 54). Adrian & Rachael’s block is on there too. Theirs is three blocks up from ours.
Jasmine got her first report card today for year one and we are SO proud of how well she has been doing. Here are her results
English (overall) - Very High
Reading - Very High
Writing - High
Speaking & Listening - High
Maths (overall) - Very High
Number - Very High
Measurement - Very High
Space - Very High
Patterns & Algebra - Very High
Science - High
S.O.S.E? - Very High
The Arts - Very High
Music - Sound
H & PE - High
For behaviour she got an A, and most of her effort ratings are either A’s or B’s .
We are so proud of our little girl!
I am SO excited!! A very good friend of mine will be starting work at my work in a few weeks. I can’t wait! She is going to love it there, they are great people to work for, and the staff are great too.
Another update on how my Gluten Challenge is progressing. My joint pain has become quite bad, at times I can feel it in what seems to be every joint in my body. So far I am managing it reasonably well with anti-inflammatories, but I never thought I would say it but I am in some ways starting to look forward to going back off the gluten. If only for the reduction in joint pain! I have also noticed that after eating bakery food on weekends as a bit of a treat, I end up paying for it the next few days. I can manage small amounts of gluten without it having too much of an immediate effect (apart from the joint pain etc), but it appears that too much in a day stops things up a bit.
There is still no answers on the fevers.. I am now getting them daily, and almost all day although they seem to be worse first thing in the morning and in the evenings. They seem to be more frequent now and it is getting extremely frustrating! All I know is that it isn’t from the Coeliacs (according to my gastro specialist). My gp seems to think it might be related to my PCOS, but I am skeptical on that one. It also seems that the sweating I have been experiencing is not related to medication like I thought, as I am now off that medication for nearly 3 weeks and I am still sweating. I am thinking now that it might be related to my fevers as the one morning this week I didn’t sweat while putting on makeup was when I took some nurophen at 5.30am. I am thinking that it controlled my fever and so I didn’t sweat. I will keep an eye on that theory and see what happens.
At this stage everything with the fevers is pretty much in limbo. My gp wants to talk to an endocrinologist about my case and so I am waiting to hear from her about what she comes up with there.
I have about 6wks to go eating gluten and I will be very surprised if my tests results show I am not Coeliac. I may not respond like a typical Coeliac, but all Coeliac’s do respond differently, something I was reminded of when speaking to a Coeliac at a work function. My reactions just don’t seem to be as immediate as a typical Coeliac’s but it appears the reactions are definitely still there.
Another update on the gluten challenge I have been having to determine if I am definitely coeliac since my results have not been entirely clear.
My old joint pains, stiff and aching spine are returning. Last week I was making apple crumble for a staff social day for work and I had to rub the butter and flour with my fingers to make the crumble and my fingers ached, it felt like what I imagine arthritis feels like as does my other joint pain. I hadn’t had the joint pains for quite some months before the gluten challenge so it is looking very much like I am Coeliac after all. I have NEVER had joint pains in my fingers like that before.
The bloating is continuing on and off and despite eating not that much worse than normal, I gained 4 kilos in just over a week! That is just not normal! I did indulge a little as I had been missing my favourite gluten foods so much but I certainly didn’t eat 4kg’s worth! Thankfully the weight gain seems to have plateaued again and I hope I don’t start gaining any more again. I had lost about5kg’s in the space of 6mths prior to the challenge without doing anything special, I was eating as normal and having treats probably more than I should.
So knowing that when I go gluten free again chances are I will likely once again loose weight without even trying does give me some comfort. At least now I know why I have so much difficulty with my weight when I am not a big eater and do for the most part try and eat healthy.
So far all is going well on the Gluten Challenge, no nasty side effects so far as I can tell. I have had some small amounts of bloating but I suspect this might be from having cereal on some mornings. Lactose seems to bother me much more first thing in the morning than it does later in the day. This has pretty much always been the case, I just used to avoid having too much dairy in the mornings not realising I was lactose intolerant. I just knew my tummy didn’t like it first thing in the morning!
Yesterday I had toast and had no bloating. I don’t feel any more or less tired, than usual and pretty much feel the same as I did before.
Of course this doesn’t mean I am not Coeliac, as some Coeliac’s do not get any obvious symptoms, so time will tell if I am or not when I have another biopsy in three months time. In the meantime I intend to enjoy my little reprieve from the horrible gluten free diet. It is amazing how good food is tasting again! I am going to have to be careful I don’t put on weight. I lost about 5 kg in the last 6 mths and I don’t want to ruin that!
The fevers have gotten worse again, but that started before I was back on the gluten. I am having them every day again at the moment, usually in the late afternoon and evening. I can’t wait to get to the bottom of what is causing them as they are driving me batty! My gp was apparently having breakfast with an Endocrinologist friend of hers and was going to talk to her about me so I might give it another week or so before I go and see her, I need to see her again anyway.
It has been SUCH a treat to eat normally again. I really feel like a leper when I have all this special treatment because of my Gluten Free diet, I really hate it. If it turns out that I am Coeliac I will just have to learn to live with it I guess, I know I wouldn’t mind so much if I actually felt better from it, it would be worth it to actually feel healthy for a change. Since there is something else wrong with me (fevers etc) anyway I would rather just deal with one thing thank you very much. It has really got my gp stumped as to what is causing the fevers. I take my temp every night when I am feeling off, and every night it is around 38.1 degrees give or take.
Work is incredibly busy at the moment. We have just lost a second receptionist after our brilliant one (the best they had ever had) left to have her baby and so all the admin staff have been under quite a load taking up the slack as well as dealing with the rush before the tax deadlines. I am falling further and further behind in my own work because of having to do so much other work. A new ad went in the paper today with a deadline of 22 May so it is not going to change in the immediate future. I have brought some work home this weekend in the effort to try and catch up some. Will see how I go!
Poor little Kyan has lost his best friend at Kindy. We knew it was coming as his family was moving to Abi Dabi (sp?) but Kyan didn’t quite understand and last week was Kyan’s first week without his best friend at kindy and it is finally starting to hit him. The poor little fella was so close with his best friend and he has been a bit sad this week. Dean took him out to pick up some takeout during the week and sat him on a chair while he ordered, when he finished ordering he turned around and Kyan had a tear in his eye and told him that he wanted William. I broke out in tears when I heard that. My heart just breaks for him but thankfully he has started playing with another little boy and girl in his class. Hopefully in time he will miss his best friend less and less.
One of his teachers was VERY sweet and did a beautiful scrapbook page for them each with photos of the two of them together and framed them for them. They were really lovely photos and the page was just lovely. I also left my camera at the kindy for them to take photos of the two of them and have put those on CD for William and gave it to him on his last day. I am hoping they might email us when they settle in to their new home.
On a brighter note.. I am SO excited! I just got back from the specialist and I get to go back on gluten for 3 months! Yeah. Basically it is a gluten challenge. My last gastroscopy was normal and so now I go on the gluten for 3 months, and have another gastroscopy to look for new damage. If there is new damage then the Coeliac diagnosis is confirmed, and if there isn’t then I am free from this awful diet! YEAH! So for lunch I am going to have a ham and salad roll and we are having La Porchetta for dinner. Pizza is my favourite food so I am REALLY looking forward to it.
Now I am going to go and have a biscuit with my coffee and dunk away! YAY!
Here’s the photo of Dean’s Chicken Pox. Nasty Hey!
Thankfully the rest of him is not quite as bad as his face. The spots on his face are more concentrated and very swollen. He has been using lots of creams, ice packs and washers. The chemist confirmed that they no longer use calamine lotion as it dries them out and makes scarring worse. I never thought it worked all that well for chicken pox anyway when I had it as a child.
Apparently adults scar more easily than children so I bought some bio oil for when the spots are healing. Apparently that is good for the scarring. He has been in bed most of the day today and probably will be tomorrow so hopefully he will be feeling a lot better by Monday. Fingers crossed!
ETA This is his back.. it is twice as bad this evening as it was yesterday.
It is official. Dean has Chicken Pox! Ouchie! We thought he had the flu as he has been sick the last three days but this morning he broke out in red spots and the odd little blister. He went to the doc and she confirmed he had chicken pox.
It has been going around Kyan’s kindy for the past month so as soon as I saw the spots I suspected that might be what it was. Thank goodness Kyan and Jaz have both been vacinated. I think if Kyan was going to get it he would have done so by now, and I think that Kyan probably passed it on to Dean. Certainly explains why Dean had the flu and I don’t! I am usually the first of the two of us to get these things! Since I have already had Chicken Pox I probably won’t get it.
The hubbie of one of the girls at work got it as an adult and has been filling me in on how bad it can be for adults and giving me tips best treatment options. Apparently calamine can make scarring worse! So I guess that is out since he has heaps on his face especially. She said he had the spots for 3 weeks! EEEK We have pinetarsol at home so will make sure he bathes in that plenty. Hopefully he doesn’t get too bad.
I hope everyone at work has had it I would hate to pass it on to them!
I finally got the results of my Coeliac Gene Test. It appears that I do have the Coeliac Gene. BUGGER! Of course, it doesn’t mean I DO have Coeliacs, it just means it is possible I have it so still no answers. It is getting SO frustrating, I just want ANSWERS! I was soooo hoping the gene test would show I didn’t have the gene so I could eat normal again of course then I would still have to find out what was wrong with me.. but at least it would be some progress.. at least I would know what WASN’T wrong with me! LOL Oh well… will keep plugging away…
I did this layout with my Serendipity Freebie that I did for the LDD Apprentice Program and the swirly heart is from my round three entry. Unfortunately I didn’t make it through to round 4 thanks to a silly error on my part. DOH! A bit of a shame as I would have loved to make it through to the final round but I guess now life gets back to normal. I joined in to get the creative juices flowing again and it certainly helped with that! I have a professional use glitter style and pattern set due to go in store at SBE Sunday week as well as a second Canvas Inspirations set. I am revamping my doodle kit that I had submitted to the LDD apprentice program and will get that in store soon at SBE also.
As soon as I can decide on which picture to use I am going to scrap the conversation the kids had the other day also. I don’t want to forget that one!
Which reminds me, really need to do some backing up, I haven’t done any in months!
I hope you are all having a lovely Good Friday. Jaz really wanted to go to church to see what it was like and so Dean took her today. She was excited to see her best friends from school were there but as I suspected she found it pretty boring. She really is still way to young for it. Maybe at some stage Dean can take her when they have a Sunday School class on and she might find that more interesting. She is really fascinated with religion at the moment, I think because they are doing weekly RE at school.
We both really want her to learn enough so that she can make her own decision when she is old enough so we both make a concerted effort to not push her either way, but just tell her what we believe and what some other people believe. I stuggle with it sometimes to keep my explanations neutral. Dean is better at that than me! She does love learning all the bible stories though and that is fine, I did too at her age at school.
Anyway, enough rambling, it is late, must be why! That’s my excuse and I am sticking to it.
