I went down to Westmead Children’s Hospital today for Liam’s annual review.
A long day all around, with bribes of chocolate and Kinder Surprise eggs only taking so much edge off the tears and the kicks when we made him undress for assessment, or held him down for the x-rays. Because that’s what you do to three year olds to check how they’re going.
Charged with the responsibility of making a decision about what to do for Mum’s birthday (which fell ON the Queen’s Birthday holiday this year) I detoured via Hippo Espresso on my morning walk that day, in the bucketing rain, to pop my head in and make a booking at the most child-friendly cafe I’ve been to in Newcastle.
Hippo doesn’t have the best reputation for speedy service, and ordering at the counter is a pain, but if you have toddlers or other aged kids in tow they have a play area up the back, complete with decent blocks and books, and the waitstaff are extremely understanding of spilled drinks and half-eaten sugar packets. Liam had a grand time running around the cafe, meeting and greeting new friends.
Mum wondered if she was allowed to have pancakes with ice cream and chocolate topping. It’s your birthday! Of COURSE you can have pancake with ice cream and chocolate topping. In fact I insist! (my sister also had them)
Corn and ricotta cakes for me, with truss tomatoes and pesto. Yum! Oh yes, and bacon.
The Hippo Omelette for Dad. No hippos in it though :(
Because I want there to be a place for parents with kids with Spondylmetaphyseal Dysplasia to find each other. Even if just to look at each other and realise that there are other who have no idea how this will all turn out for them.
She, of course, passes them onto her sister and her kids. As you can see, Ez LOVES the spoon and sippy cup I think I got in the grab bag from the Digital Parents Conference.
And the whole family gets great use out of the air fryer I reviewed yonks ago. My sister has even cooked a roast in it!!!
Back in Newcastle for a while, to regroup, get things in perspective, look after myself, and play with some adorable little people. It could be worse! Tweet
Because instead of doing anything productive today, I spent much of it vomiting and dashing to the loo. But look! Cute kid photos from visiting the family on Thursday. He spent the day with this World Rare Diseases Day sticker on his head. Being special. While his six month old sister has learned to crawl, [...]
Today, the rare day of Feb 29, is World Rare Diseases day. What IS a rare disease??? A rare disease in Australia is defined as one which affects 1 in 10,000 people or less. There are up to 8000 known rare diseases, the majority have a genetic origin. Although each disease is rare, collectively they [...]
It’s my party and I’ll bite every lolly on the table and put it back in the bowl if I wanna! It was the sugar fueled 2nd birthday party of awesome on Sunday. There were cupcakes Presents! The bike I got him. A little big. Oh well! Not the dinosaur, daddy! Portugal. No way they’re [...]
HUGE weekend. Rish arrived midnight Friday, we went to Newcastle Saturday, and while we were on the F3, I got a text from my brother in law to say they were at the hospital because my niece was on her way!! :) I got dropped off at my parents place, and got to muck around [...]