It's about time I got this post up! You know what's funny? We had planned to have Carter mid-year because December through to February is always such a busy and COSTLY season for us.. Christmas and birthdays.. all the birthdays. When we found out I was pregnant, we were so excited to have a June baby coming!! Turns out we were destined to make the busy season busier with Carter arriving late March instead.
Anyway, that's my explanation for dragging my butt on writing this post!
We got into Christmas holidays a week earlier than planned.
Not to 'holiday' but to 'hospital' - Yep, I was in the hospital AGAIN.
This time, a kidney infection. The short of it; I was sick and in a LOT of pain, a round of antibiotics and a week later, I'm feeling much better and ready to make the long drive down to Melbourne.
The drive down to Melbourne, from Dubbo, usually takes us about twelve hours, give or take, depending on how many times someone needs to go to the toilet.
We always leave early in the morning so we can stop in Forbes for breakfast at McDonalds.
The kids love knowing that we will always stop there.
Of course, Carter was due for a bottle.. and a nappy change!
This was the moment I found out that there was something wrong with my DSLR.
I had every intention of documenting this trip, well, the way I always document things.. with photos!
My camera wouldn't even turn on. So after a big sook, I decided to really be in the moment with this entire trip.
..and document it with my phone instead.
We try to get out at every stop, let the kids have a run around.. but when we're on a roll with toilet stops, we kinda just want to keep going. To aid in our endeavours to not get crap everywhere, we give the kids a container each. When we stop somewhere, like McDonalds, we empty their food into the containers and then bin the rubbish before we even leave the carpark. If we're on the road and the kids want snacks, same deal - straight into the container.
Pre-container times were MESSY! Someone ALWAYS spilt their hot cake syrup or dipping sauce.. ALWAYS!
They also each have a drink holder in their seat which makes that super easy too.
We stayed with my parents in Melbourne's South East.
It's so weird to be home after being gone for so long! You half expect everything to look different.. FEEL different. I like staying at my parents' house. It's as 'home' as you can get when you're not in your own house. I like that the towels are always folded the same way, or that you know exactly which cupboard to find the glasses in, or that someone is ALWAYS making a cuppa.
We got to spend time with John's parents and see our siblings, nieces and nephews too. Apart from our families, the one thing we really miss about our home city.. THE FOOD!!!
My parents put on an AMAZING spread for Christmas.. and New Years.. and it was delicious!!!
Seafood and hangi.. I love coming home!
Havanah made the decision to celebrate her sixth birthday while we were in Melbourne, a few days before her ACTUAL birthday. So, naturally, my parents set out to make it an incredible day for her.. and it was perfect!
Apart from the fact that SOMEHOW I managed to forget to pack a single nappy for Carter!
I don't know what happened!! They were in my hands as I approached the bag we'd packed for the day.. and then, something happened.. and somehow, they never made it into said bag!
John hit the gift shop to see if they sold anything.. even swimming nappies! "NOT EVEN IN THE CAR?" he asked me, as if I had this stash of nappies everywhere we went. Actually, I usually do!
We weren't going to let it put a dampener on our day. It was the first beautiful day we'd had since arriving in Melbourne. A top of 36 and the kids were in a great mood!
I even ran into a couple of friends I went to school with.. and, of course, they'd heard our little Carter Bear's story. (HEY GIRLS!)
That evening, as I climbed into bed next to Carter (who had been fast asleep for a couple of hours), Carter's monitor started flashing red and the alarm was heard through the house.
I flicked the light on and put my hand on him. His colour was ok but his breathing was shallow.
Happy that his heart rate had no change, I left Carter to continue sleeping and watched as his oxygen levels moved back up into the 90's.
He continued through the night (and the rest of the trip) with no more issues.
We were due to go home in a couple of days and Dad kept telling us that we HAD to go to Daniel's Donuts. We'd heard a lot about their pies.. their doughnuts.. their pies.. their pies.. My parents, the pie loving people they are, bought $200 worth of pies from Daniel's Donuts so they could take them home and freeze them.
I laughed when Dad told me.. but I was thankful they'd done it when we showed up a few days after Christmas to find that Daniel's Donuts were on holiday for another two weeks. We all laughed at how let down we felt.
Doing my best not to let the moment pass without capturing it, I ran across the road to take a photo of the kids, upset that they'd missed out on the donuts we'd just spent the last half-hour drive talking up.
We decided to find a restaurant for dinner and grab a box of Krispy Kreme donuts on our way home.
The day before heading home, we decided to take Carter to get his immunisations. The short of it; our family doctor in Dubbo only has one nurse. Our old doctor's clinic in Melbourne has quite a few. One nurse means Carter has to endure the pain of one needle at a time. Several nurses means that two needles can be done, in each leg, at once.
Because Carter had never been seen at this clinic, we had to fill out a 'New Patient' form. At nine months old, Carter had too big of a medical history for me to fit all of it in the designated space.
After two weeks, we headed home to Dubbo. Back to 40 degree days and the constant hum of air-conditioners.
It still hurts my heart to not have those amazing first Christmas photos for Carter like we do the other kids, but we had an incredible two weeks, made so special by the people we got to spend our time with.
