Easter Weekend

Its good to have all the family home.  Nana & Grandad, Amy & Matt, Kate and Mark, and Grandad Flowerday has come for the weekend too.  Some having first cuddles and holds of Isaac.  Amy, Matt, Dave & Mark have been to Omaka Aerodrome today to see the airshow. Grandad Flowerday, Grandad Murphy & Stuart have been to Pigeon Valley to see the Transport Museum, and Nana Murphy, Kate and Beth visited the flea market and a couple of shoe shops.  The weather hasn't been so conducive to outdoors, but the kids that went to Blenheim said it was better there. Stuart lit the lounge fire this afternoon.

Tea out at Bouterey's on Thursday night to celebrate Kate's birthday..  Isaac was babysat by Staceys mum and dad

My Rhubarb dessert was exquisite..

On Good Friday (Kate's real birthday) it was her turn for a hospital visit to A&E!  End of a busy semester, a good head cold causing asthma attack and not able to catch her breath.  Dad and Kate had a visit there just to revisit an old time memory.  That's 3 out of 4 children in hospital in last couple of months...

Great Grandparents first hold and look..

 Looks like the boys found something for the farm, or for Isaac down the track...

And another old '46 Jailbar - just painted a little different to ours!

A gorgeous sunset over the cowshed looking from Dave & Stacey's house last week.

The Apprentice - First Day!

Grandad was more than happy to see his grandson come to work today and clucked and cooed and generally got nothing done for an hour or so...    The messy desk didn't seem to phase him one bit.

Looks like Grandad is being told a thing or two..

Mostly just calm and a little confused..

Tiresome little yellow post it notes ...

A little bit of front counter chatter while the boss is not looking ...

Then its time for cuddles, snuggle into a wrap and off to sleep before going home again.

Isaac has grown 3 centimetres longer, is now 4 weeks old, put on plenty of weight, and last night slept a whole 9 hours after which mum panicked to make sure he was still breathing okay.  Perhaps the back and mouth adjustment through the paediatrician has worked a treat.

And the Tail End ...

Sunday afternoon saw Dave a little better.  Dave proudly showed us there was plenty of roll (compliment of Stacey's baking)  in which to put injections twice a day - helps it not to hurt so much too!

In the foyer was this sheet of 'blonde jokes' and a sign that said 'laughter is the best medicine'.  Stacey said they weren't even funny.  So I took them up, and Dave read the first (quite pathetic one).... and this is what happened.  He was doubled up in pain, hiccuping and laughter and crying all at the same time.  He had to walk outside the room in order to try and calm himself down.  Morphine reaction??!!  It will be interesting to see if he laughs at all when he's sober...

Meanwhile Grandad decided to hold Isaac while sitting in Great Grandads walker chair.

And when he cried too much went for a walk down around the corridor.  The nurses suggested he didn't have the 'right equipment' to settle him down... but he soon went to sleep and he proudly strolled past the nursing station again :)

So, Dave came home this afternoon.  He has to go to the medlab each morning for a warfarin blood test, so the Dr can tell him how many pills to swallow to keep his levels right.  He'll have to be on blood thinners for the next 3 months.  Isaac has been to see the Paediatrician today (same one that saw Mark when he was a baby), and he adjusted his fourth vertebrae and the roof of his mouth so he will be able to suck properly and not get so much wind.  Already he is drinking better, so he should be happier when he sleeps after a day or two.

It's raining for the first time in quite some while.... the drainlayers are having fun in the mud trying to lay the effluent field on the farm.  Otherwise we are aiming for a week of achieving things instead of dramas!

Another Weak End...

Friday night we headed to the bach - some cleaning, ironing and lawns to do after a couple of christchurch families have been using it for a while.  We'd hardly got ourselves awake for the day when Stacey phoned through to say Dave had just left in the ambulance out their 4WD track to hospital with chest pains.  While we phoned the kids and Stuart talked to Trudy & Rex to see if she was working at the hospital this weekend, I ironed some pillowslips, and we managed to enjoy just a little bit of sunshine on the deck.   It was the kind of morning that you wished could last... and you didn't have to think of getting home quicker than planned!  Rex & Trudy offered to go over and spend saturday night and get the lawns mowed for us so we could leave and visit the people we'd promised to see just on the other side of the Takaka hill about a couple of Skyline buildings.  The grass was fairly lengthy and there was a heavy due that would take a couple of hours to dry.
For just a few moments we pushed Pause and the world stopped and sun shone and warmed our old bones...

Stuart had to take a trip down the road to feed his substance abuse..  then had to go again because he dropped one in the driveway when he got back...

Picturesque Pohara was like a flash card as we drove out, taunting you've no time to enjoy ...

First food we had was 'Up the Garden Path' in Motueka after 3pm for the day where Stuart bonded with the inhabitants of the garden..

We saw that hanging a mirror in the garden adds a very interesting dimension ..

We picked Grandad up on our way through, packed his bag, got him settled into his Weekend Getaway, then went to visit the "Oh look Double Clots" in hospital.  Stacey arrived at the same time with some things for Dave.  Dave was not amused with any funnies of course!  It hurt to breathe deeply let alone us poking fun at him.  Stacey had left Isaac with her mum, but after an hour or so got a text "Isaac really really wants his mummy", so she had to go home with the pacifiers.

The roast chicken and potato tea wasn't going down at all, and after a while the panadol hadn't really kicked in, so SOMEONE went to rouse up the nurses - who were having a great conflab down at the counter and laughing away.  They were asked where was the meds the dr was meant to be charting an hour after them being promised.  It still took half an hour for codeine to arrive with the promise of morphine later if that didn't work.  Dave was feeling really hot, none of us were, so we're hoping his leg wasn't thinking about having an infection!  He could be in for a few days having jabs in the tummy twice a day and on blood thinners.

Now we're thankful that there's an extra hour in the morning to get ourselves organised for Sunday :)
Hope everyones weekend was as exciting as ours.