In recovery

Well now that Ethans forehead has gone down a lot his dad wanted to put a couple of shots of him 'in recovery'. Alot of bruising has come up around his eyes and his nose is pretty puffy which worried me but AJ says its normal and with his vast experience I have to take his word for it. Everyone calls him a klingnon (star trek) but he takes it on the chin. Hes a little toughie our son but that doesnt mean we want this to become a habit hey :)

Barron Warrior

Well its 1.10am in Brisbane and we have just retuned home from the hospital with Ethan, our little warrior.

Cant sleep and have to wake my son up in a couple of hours to check on him and thought what better way to pass the time than update everyone on the latest escapades in the Barron household.

'Twas a nice but slightly chilly afternoon in Brisbane, and with Andrew and my brother working late and me stuck at home with my 5 kids and my 4 year old nephew, we thought 'what the hell, lets have a bbq'. So we invited ourselves to my sisters house for dinner (yay no dishes tonight, was certainly a strong point for my daughter)and packed up the car and went over.

It started out ok. The adults chatting around the barby and 9 kids running around the yard, playing and causing mischief. It was a relaxing start and everyone was enjoying themselves.

I was heading upstairs to check on my 7 month old godchild and all I heard was my sister yell out 'Liam be careful. Put that down.' and then more urgently 'Watch out!' then a thud and Ethan started crying. Loudly.

By the time I had got to my son, he had a lump the size of a basketball that varied in colours; pink, white and black, and a distressed older son who was staring with tears in his eyes at his baby brother.

Liam had found a block of wood in the garage (think wood chopping block shape but half the size), bought it out to the yard and was showing his cousins how strong he was by throwing it as far as he could. Unfortunately his aim was apparently off and his brothers forehead became the unintended target.

Neither me nor my sister had ever seen a lump so large and so I packed the kids in the car, dropped the others off at home with my brother, picked up his dad (guess they didnt end up working so late hey) and we rushed off to the hospital. By then Ethan had stopped crying and was back to his normal self. Giggly, alert, boisterous and stroppy.

We got him assessed by the nurse and sat down to wait for our turn. The emergency room started to fill up pretty quick while we waited. Lots of very sick and grizzly kiddies and equaly frazzled parents. We felt like a bit of a fraud amongst all this misery, as while there was lots of sad faces around us, our son was climbing chairs, chatting to various people and running around the play area at top speed with a massive grin on his face.

After two hours of waiting to see the doctor, Andrew was starting to get annoyed and if it hadnt been a head injury, he would have had us out of there. After a bit of a rev up at reception, we finally got in to see the doctor only to have them sit there and fill out an incident report and asessment for possible child abuse BEFORE they actually checked out his head. I could see Andrew start to get very upset and irate and sent him out to do Ethan a bottle while I hurried the paperwork up and got onto the important part of getting my sons injury looked at.

I totally understand and agree why doctors need to establish how any child would get hurt but is it too much to ask that they check your child to make sure that they are fine BEFORE trying to establish wether or not it was an accident?

By now it was 10.30, Ethan was getting tired and aggravated and wanted a shower, pjs, bottle, his blue pillows and purple mouse in his own bed at his own house. He was also getting upset at the endless lights being shone in his eyes, the rubber hammer that tests reflexes, the beep beep thingy that reads his pulse and heartbeat. But I have to say that he didnt wince once when they pressed on the lump that was thankfully decreasing in size.

Anyway they kept him for observation till 12.30 and now we are home. A very long and tiring night and Im not looking forward to daylight, when I have to be up preparing breaky and lunches, doing drop offs and handling two active pre schoolers and a toddler for the day.

The joys of parenthood :) Well gotta go and wake Ethan up and hopefully get a few zzzs.

To Gran, with love xxxxx

We got an email from Gran yesterday requesting some black and white photos of the children. So Gran, here they are, sent to you with tons and tons of love, hugs and kisses

Brat Attack!

I loved nothing more than dressing my baby son up and making him look more gorgeous than he usually does, chucking him in the car and cruising off to the mall, even if it was just to have a ice choccie and a bit of a wander round. He would love it too, sitting in his stroller and throwing out big smiles to all who would stop and say how cute he was and chuck him under the chin.

Sigh. Those were the days.

Now hes gotten older. And all thats changed.

Picture this. Ethan has figured out how to press the thingies together to release him from the restraints in his stroller. I didnt know this untill we were browsing in KMart the other day and I was sizing up some clothes for one of the other kids and, crash bang, this loud noise reverberates through the baby section, which was right next to where we were. I look in the stroller and my son is gone. With a bit of a curse, I head to where the noise came from and theres my son, amongst all the baby rattles and teats and bottles and wotnot that he had pulled down on top of him, with a big grin on his face. Red faced I start to clear up the mess all the while trying to figure out how the hell he escaped his stroller and apologising to the nice store DETECTIVE that had stopped to help. Mind you I bet he was just there to check for breakages that therefore needed to be paid for!!

Then once more securing Ethan in the stroller I left asap, moving onto the next shop. I became engrossed in looking at some house plants, but unknown to my child, kept one eye on the stroller. And then I realised how he had gotten out. The little rat was sitting there positioning his fingers on either side of the clip. Once done, he used his other hand to add strength to those fingers and sqeezed and yanked. He repeated this for the other side and, voila, he was free. Had to admire his ingenuity but it did pose a problem, one which his dad found a solution to once I told him of his sons escapades. By bending the clips a bit further outwards it made it harder for Ethan to squeeze and it caught when he yanked.

We dont even take him into the dairy when we stop in for milk etc anymore. We only do that in pairs. Ethan likes nothing more than running in, grabbing what he can and throwing them to the ground. Yesterday he took off while I was paying and ran between the small aisles, arms outstretched and sweeping what he could off the shelves.

He is definitely alot different than the other kids were at that age. Certainly teaching us alot more things thats for sure.

Our darling daughters

A day at Aussie World

Today as a late birthday treat for Maddisyn we packed up the car and family and took them up to the Sunshine Coast to Aussie World, a kiddies amusement park. It was very exciting for them and sort of for us, and they loved it. Liam went on the octopus and rollercoaster so many times that Im surprised he was able to walk from place to place. After a bit of a hesitant start, halfway through the day, Maddy got a bit more daring and went on alot of things that she wouldnt go near earlier on.
It was a lovely day, tho very warm, but Andrew and I were glad to get them in the car and make our way home as the sky started to darken. Now we are at home, with full tummys, clean children and looking forward to a lax night.
Here are a few photos

Kiddies and Dad

Like father....

Funny thing.

This is a photo of Ethan, ten minutes after I took and posted the photo in my last entry. After the photo session, he climbed off his dad, lay down on the floor gazing at me as my fingers tapped away on the computer and promptly fell asleep!!

I tell you that it is something that Andrew has passed onto nearly all his kids. He falls asleep anywhere at the drop of a hat, as does Kaytlynn, Maddy and Ethan. Liam used to when he was younger but seems to have grown out of it whereas Kyla can survive on only a few hours.

Hard Hat

One of a parents worst nightmares happened today.

Whenever Andrew or I pick up our car keys, put on our shoes or jerseys (yes its cold enough now for us to wear jerseys, jeans and even jammies to bed) Ethan knows that we are preparing to leave the house and becomes agitated when he realises that hes not going too.

So our trick is to quietly pocket the keys, leave putting our shoes on till we are outside and basically sneak out.

This morning Andrew assumed that Ethan was in another part of the house (couldnt hear or see him)and exited the house via the front door. Unfortunately he didnt close the door properly behind him. Ethan followed his dad out the door. Dad didnt know untill he was at the bottom of the steps, which is about 10 wooden steps, and Ethan called out to him. In a panic baby tried to hurry down the steps to follow his dad, lost his footing at the top and tumbled down sideways. Luckily Andrew caught his son as he rebounded off the last step and before he hit the concrete pathway.

Poor AJ. A similar incident happened to him when Liam was about 6 months. LJ was wandering around the house in his walker. We were in the bedroom cleaning and I could hear Liam banging his walker against the screen door which we always kept locked when we left the front door open. My hands were full of clothes and at the sound of an almighty bang, said to Andrew 'God hes opened the screen door'.

Andrew took off at a run but by the time he got to the end of the hallway, he could see his son teetering at the top of the 20 or so concrete steps. Before he could reach him Liam and walker went tumbling down.

As it was back then with Liam, Ethan got away with a bump on the head, a graze and a ten second cry. And as with Liam, his parents took longer to get over it than he did. After the 'nothing broken?' check and keeping a close eye on him in case of delayed concussion, his first demands were 'Car dadda car' while leading dad to the object that started his trip to the bottom of the steps in the first place.

I dont know with these Barron boys. They have heads of steel and the ability to give the woman in their lives a heartattack with their shenanigans. Never have these problems with my daughters!!

Here we go again

Hi all.

Its time for a long overdue catchup with the kids and their super busy lives and some recent photos for their Gran to see. Have been out of action for a while but we are back. School holidays have descended on us again and I have had to take time off from my job to stay at home with them all which is a bit of a bummer but when your husband is the boss it makes applying for time off relatively easy :). So here we go;

Kyla has turned into the social butterfly, always out and about, on the phone for hours or we have a steady stream of visitors in the house. It gets a bit tedious sometimes as with work we are pretty much stuffed and have to deal with drop offs and pick ups but guess its the joys of having a teenager. She has finally gotten us to agree to let her walk to and from school but has a strict 'be at home' time as it still worries us a bit but I have to admit that lately that buzz has worn off. Her school work hasnt suffered with her extra curriculum activities so we are quite happy to let her do as she does. She only has 10 days off school and then its off to camp for a week. Andrew has a bit of a problem with high school camps. Wonder why that would be? :P She also has just had a new haircut. Unfortunately her new obsession with her appearnce doesnt always extend to her hair which was quite long and tho she would skim over the top to make it appear nice, she never got as far as underneath and a multitude of dreadlocks started to form and after numerous warnings to do it properly she wouldnt comply. I like the shorter do anyway.

Kaytlynn isnt so social but has a couple of close good friends. Unfortunately after 6 solid weeks of up to three extra kids in the house on the weekends as well as Kylas drop bys and our boarder and my brother and his son staying with us for a while, I yelled a 'Time out' and Katy has been able to go away a bit more. For some reason her friends preferred to stay here than at their own. She is really enjoying school as always and is such a bubbly and loving nature that it is a pleasure to have her around. Not to say that she cant be very temperamental but its nice to be at this stage with her before the hormones of teenage hood hit her. She reminds us alot of her Aunty Liane. She loves to jump rope and has the ability to rope her dad, uncle and Nathan in on the act too when noone else will comply. Now that I think of it, it would make a great photo for the blog. Andrew playing jump rope hehe. It is an amusing sight.

Liam is our Roger Federer even if it is only in enthusiasm. He has really taken to the game of tennis and we are grateful for the enthusiasm that their school has for the game that sees him able to play it regularly. Hes a bit lazy when it comes to his homework though. He likes to hide it and tell us that he has none or has already done it and only brought it out once in a while to validate his claims. If it wasnt for the dedication of his teacher we would not be any the wiser. He invents some amazing stuff and we love his imagination and try to nurture it as best we could. Unfortunately the girls dont find it as amusing when they find all their stuff has been taken apart and made into vehicles or whatever his mind has thought up. I try to appease them by reminding them about some of the stuff that her dad and uncle did to some of their sisters things. That seems to work. For a while anyway.

Maddisyn is 5 in a couple of days but seems to have decided to keep the attitude of the terrible twos going. Andrew is freaking out. She reminds him so much of him as a child that he is finding it difficult to figure out an effective way to deal with some of her tantrums and mannerisms. Usually him losing his temper works as a short term solution. She is a real daddys girl tho and adores him but really like to push his buttons. She absolutely loves daycare and is a bright little button. She is back to seeing specialists tho with her glue ear. Just as we think that we have it fixed it reoccurs so we are trying to find a permenant solution before more of her hearing is lost. It might include a bit of surgery though :( but she is her fathers daughter and takes it all in her stride.

Ethan is the male version of Maddy-Rose and the terrible twos have hit early with him. He is a bit easier to control and stuff but it is still alot of hard work. Andrew is forever saying to me 'Mum was right. I would be sorry when I had children of my own and they are like me.' I have to have a giggle at his frustration. Ethan is learning so much at daycare, moreso since he started going there fulltime and its very pleasing to see the change in his learning patterns. He can fingerpaint, loves the dancing and singing sessions they have and is starting to recognise pictures and tries to put a name to them. His vocabulary is very full and we are sure he is only one step away from stringing a full sentence together. His fav words at the moment is 'Mine!', 'Yuk', 'Oh-oh' and our favorite 'See ya lata' as he sits there with a grin on his face, one hand raised and wiggling his fingers at you. I have taken to tying his hair up in a ponytail in an effort to keep it tidier and out of his face, much to his dads distaste. But he wont let me cut the back so has no choice but to let me do as I will. Ethan also has the 'No fear' complex which is a bit worrying but we have great hopes that he grows out of it before he has the same impressive medical files that his dad had as a child!!

Recent photos

This pose reminds me of someone but cant quite put my finger on it. And NO I dont mean me!



Maddy would rather push her brother around in her dolls pram rather than her actual dollies, not that Ethan finds it particularly amusing right now.



A rare and rather sweet show of sisterly love.



A hearty protest.



Father and daughter



Smile for mum xxx



Hang on mum. The cats not smiling!