MWNews 22

Maeghan goes to the doctor today. We thought it was next month but it turns out it is today. It is just her checkup. I have to go to work but Juanita is going to take her. I want her to ask if they can do another MRI or some kind of scan. Not that we see any problems, but I would rather they check now instead of waiting for something to appear to be wrong. With the subtle changes that can take place, we might not notice it because we will see it everyday, so I would rather have them do some type of scan to see if they can see anything that needs to be taken care of now.

They told us after her operation that she would not need anything else, but she is still really small. That is probably how it is going to be but I want them to check as often as possible to make sure.

Everyone comments about how much better she is at walking and things. I know she doesn't fall as much but she still falls a lot. She can't really run yet. I don't know if that is because of the braces or she just doesn't have the strength in the legs to do it. She appears to walk on her toes a lot. I don't know if it just looks that way in that her braces are moving in her shoes and it looks like she is on her toes or she is actually walking on her toes. I guess they can tell us that today and indicate if there is any problems they see.

One issue is the clinic she goes to is for spina-bifida, and she does not have that. They at first classified her as having it but now they say it is just some other things that has a really long name. It is not spina-bifida, so the tests and things they look for may not be valid for her condition. I am sure it is basically the same thing and as long as the same doctors see her each time, they know what is going on. I just worry that if her doctors ever change, they will not know her history and will not look for the right things. But I am sure it is just me worrying too much.

Maeghan has started doing some new dances. Once again, we have no idea where she gets them from. Now, she will stand there and do something like the twist. She holds her hands up and twists her hips and then steps side to side.

She has also started singing a lot. And singing really loud. I think I mentioned it before. She has gotten to the stage where she talks all the time and is always asking questions and telling you what she is doing.

She has started potty training. She has been doing it off and on for about a year now, but now we are getting serious about it as we don't want two babies in diapers at the same time. She thinks it is really cool to go in her potty. When we leave her nappy off, she is going to the potty about every 15 minutes, whether she needs to or not. She has learned how to take her shoes and braces off and then take her pants off, so she does it on her own. She can't put them back on herself, so she runs around with no clothes on. We have bought her some little panties and she knows how to take them off. Sometimes, she doesn't get them all the way off and she gets them wet, so now, as soon as she takes them off, even if you have just put them on her, she takes them to the laundry. So all her panties end up in the laundry after about an hour. They are in a drawer she can reach, so she goes in and gets some new ones when we tell her to put her pants back on. Since they are all white, we don't notice that she brings us a new pair each time and then she runs out and we have to go find them in the laundry.

In other news, next week is Michael's birthday. I think it is Tuesday. He is out of school starting next week also. It is spring break I think. He has been taking tests this week, so I assume he is out next week. I don't really know as I still think it is fall here and spring break is in March. He went for a sort of job interview a few weeks ago. It is for the apprenticeship programs they have over here. He was going to be an electricians apprentice. Its a pretty good program in that once they are through their trial period of three months, they are offered a permanent job. And, they get paid for the time they are on trial. The government pays for most of it so it encourages kids to get started in jobs and allows new people to be trained. That is the reason most people don't finish school over here and grades 11 and 12 are optional. If they get into the apprenticeship program, there is really no reason to go to school anymore as they are set with a job for life. Of course, if that is not what they want to do, they have nothing to fall back on but they have been doing it here for a long time. I think the concept comes from England. If they ever do lose their job, then they don't have a whole lot of options as every other company is doing the same things with apprentices. But we will see how it goes. The job was between three different kids and only one of them can work at a time. Michael's trial period doesn't start until December I think. Of course, I may have all this information wrong and it works in a completely different way but I am sure it is something like I have described.

I was mentioning it was Michael's birthday. He will be 17. We bought him a new desk for his room and made him carry it in from the car and put it together himself. We got him something else, but he doesn't know that and he doesn't read this, so he won't find out. For now, he only knows he is getting the desk and that is all he is getting. You would think he might have figured it out since he carried in some wrapping paper and the desk wasn't wrapped, so he should have wondered what the wrapping paper was for. But apparently, he didn't.

I mentioned Juanita's parents and her sister are coming for Christmas. The get here on December 17. Right now, Angela and the kids are planning on spending a week in Brisbane at Christmas, but unless they buy the tickets soon, they will be spending it here also. Plus, I don't know where she is going to get the money from anyway.

Natalie and Adam were not planning on coming down. That might change since everyone else will be here, they might come down and see them. I know Natalie hasn't seen Poss in about 4 years of so, maybe longer. There is a small possibility we might go up there for a week, but I have no idea how we would fit everyone in the car and we are not going to take two cars. Plus, I won't have the time off anyway as I am taking it for the baby but we will see how it goes. Don't tell Juanita, I don't want her to get her hopes up. We won't have the money to take everyone anyway but if we can somehow arrange to leave Michael and Angela and the kids here, we might be able to do it. That way, it would only be Juanita, Poss, Juanita's parents, Maeghan, William and me in the car. We would all fit that way, but it may not be comfortable for a 12 hours trip, each way. And, there is no way we will be able to get away without taking everyone. Maybe Michael will be working by then and he will have to stay or he can pay to go up there himself. Angela and the kids are another story but will just wait and see. The trip is not likely to happen but I am thinking about it. Juanita wants to go before the baby is born but I can't take anymore time off before that.

We finally got ahold of the doctor about my procedure. They called the hospital and the hospital said they had lost the paper work. So we had to do it all again. I now have a date. I think it is Oct. 25. It is only a day procedure, so I won't be staying in the hospital. Of course, I already knew that but they are telling me I have to take a week off work afterwards. I haven't had do to that before but I will probably do it this time. Over here, if they tell you to be off work, then you have to be off work as everything is paid for by the government and if you don't do it the way they say to, they don't pay for it.

It's just an angiogram but since I had already done the blood tests and other stuff anticipating a date in September, I have to do all that again for the October date. It is not a big deal but it means I have to take a day off work for that.

Well, I am at home now. I have to go to work and Juanita has to take Maeghan to the doctor. I will write again after we hear from the doctor.

Talk to you later.

This is a picture a some of Juanita's family. They all have to wear blue in Tasmania, it is some kind of law. Starting on the left, there is Juanita's brother Craig, her father, her mother and Tim. In front are Craig's kids, Chris and Tommy. This was when we were in Tasmania last time.