Milestones

A friend reminded me today of my plans for my 30th (which was 2 years ago now and said plans never fruitioned - is that a word?). I had conjured up in my mind a Bon Jovi garden party with fake tattoos and bandannas for all. Well I didn't go ahead with it, life kind of got in the way.

That same month however, I did attend my graduation earning my Diploma in Education. I only invited Toby (family stuff going on at the time too!) and I drank in the wonderful feeling of achievement.

I had started the DipEd in 2001 then became pregnant with my daughter. The 'morning' sickness was so bad that I lost 5kg in the first Trimester. I had to put my studies on hold. The sickness didn't end but I did start to gain weight and finally gave birth to a healthy 3kg girl. A couple of years later my son was born. All that I needed to do was a 6 week teaching Prac. but I didn't want to use daycare so I waited until circumstances allowed me to leave my children in school or with family and took on the 6 week Prac. It was great. I loved the students, my mentor, the other teachers at the school, the challenges, the change of pace... and finally 7 years after starting it I was done!

So the graduation was pretty sweet for me, it was a long time in coming.

If I could have a do-over I would delay parenthood until after embarking on a career and set myself up to be in a position to take maternity leave. However, how do you know when enough is enough? When have you set yourself up enough that you can take an extended break from the workforce to parent and then return to some kind of secure position? Really I don't think this is the way the world works anymore anyway, career changes are pretty common and regular. I guess everyone rolls with the punches as much as setting goals. There's my ramblings for the day. In essence, when I stumbled across these pictures today they reminded me of just how far I really have come. It's been a busy life! and these days - a very happy one.

Video Evidence

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I was doing some deleting today and found a few old videos you might be interested in.


This video is about 4 years old so we were still in the Mormon State of Mind.  Thought you might enjoy my daughters rendition of a favourite Primary song :)

Then there is this gem of which I am quite proud as it reassures me that we threw in a healthy balance of godlessness whilst still in 'the Trance'.  Look out for the booger meal!

... and finally, some evidence that supports those TBM accusations of my immodesty prior to leaving the Church.

To be fair I had just got back from the gym!

I prescribe MORE FUN!!! Take at least 3 times a day.

Canaan has had excema on and off since he was born. We used the steroid creams prescribed by our GP which were successful in making the redness go away if used consistently... however the steroid creams themselves have side effects and I was never very happy nor comfortable about using them. We considered other factors in treating his excema. We tried changing his diet. We tried every available type of moisturiser, bath oil and non-soap cleanser. Then he kind of just grew out of it. By the time he started Kindy we only rarely had an outbreak of excema so we would just use the steroids again and get on with things.

6 months ago his excema flared up again and boy was it angry looking. We started using the steroid creams again but this time the excema just kept getting worse. Finally I took him to a Naturopath. They used iridology to assess that he was low in Zinc and that his gut was not functioning properly. So we bought a Zinc supplement and a probiotic. We stopped using the steroid creams. His excema seemed to get 'less angry' but it started to spread. It had started on the backs of his knees and the inner elbows. Now it was on his face and torso as well.

Next stop, my dad. When I was about 10 my dad had been given 2 months to live. He had cancer. He looked around and got into kinesiology. 20 years later he is a fit and healthy Grandad to 4 (nearly 5!) grand children. So I called him and he said to bring Canaan over straight after school. He used his skills in kinesiology to ask Canaan's body (or his body's 'computer') many questions. Dad said that the main cause for his excema was emotional. He asked more questions (not out loud, so Canaan didn't hear any of this, dad discussed it with me later) and discovered that Canaan was experiencing stress at home in his relationship with his mum and dad. Yep me and Toby. We were being too strict and Canaan needed more freedom. Wow.

Dad gave us an Iron supplement and a prescription for MORE FUN!

One week later and Canaan's excema has calmed down considerably. We are all very happy with these results as well as the special medicine that we decided to share with the whole family. MORE FUN!