MWNews 70

This is our previous camping trip to Wombeyan Caves. This is the exit to the cave tour. I am not sure how to spell Wombeyan, but since you are never likely to visit there, it is a safe bet that any way I spell it, you will never know the difference.
I was going to put some pictures from the recent camping trip, but apparently, I have not downloaded them off the camera yet. I was trying to find a picture that has a recent image of Maeghan and William. I could not find one that has them close enough together so you can compare the size. Then again, they are never close together for very long. One of them will always do something to the other so that they have to be seperated. I would say they fight like brother and sister but Maeghan does not really fight, or so she will tell you. It is always something that William is doing and she is totally innocent. I haven't actually caught her at it, but I am fairly certain that she baits William into doing things that will get him into trouble. Being, older, smarter and yet still smaller than William, she can usually maneuver him into doing something that will get him yelled at. Then she can be seen as the sweet princess that she is. It works out well for her.
I don't think I mentioned the Wombeyan cave camping trip. Must have been during the dark times when I was incapacitated and not allowed to enter ner entries into the blog. We made that trip around Easter this year. I have lots of photos from the trip. I really need to put up some web albums, but then again, who would be interested except me and I already have all the photos.
The Wombeyan caves are about 4 hours from here. It was a nice place and we think we will go back sometime. Of course, they had caves. None of which you could explore for free, but we sent on one of the tours and it was nice. Juanita and William stayed at the camp as she was not feelikng well and I didn't think I could manage William and Maeghan at the same time. We camped with Natalie and Adam and Angela and three of the grandkids. In the picture is Anna. She stayed the last two days with us after all the others had left. We spent the first two days yelling at all the kids and trying to keep them from running off. When we first arrived, we were the only ones there. We got there on the Wednesday before Easter and everyone did not start showing up until Friday and Saturday. By Sunday, the place was completely packed. We had spread out a little to save room for the others that came on Friday, but even then, we were packed in so we could barely get out of our camp site between everyone else's tents.
We had a good time and learned a lot about out new tent we had just bought. It took almost two hours to put it up as the instructions that came with it were in some engineering code we could not decifer. We ended up looking at the picture of the tent and trying to make it look like that. After we had it up, and had all the poles and connections made, the instructions finally made a lottle sense, but there are a few places where it says to connect two poles and those poles do not exist. Now, after doing it twice, I think we can manage it on the next trip.
But I was going to talk about Maeghan and her doctor this time. Seems I have wandered off the beaten path again and got into another camping story. I suppose that is not so bad. William has just come into the room and grapped my arm, yes I am doing this from home, another long story. I think he wants something to eat. Means I will probably forget everthing that I was going to type, but I have to go and feed him now. Actually, I am hungry but I am sure he is too, so I will take a break and find something interesting in the kitchen. Not that you will notice anything. Be back soon.
Ok, I am back. Now where was I. And for all of you who live for the culinary parts of these messages, I am only having leftovers. Some sausage, some rice and some potatoes. Threw them all into a pan, stir fried them for a bit and added some hot peppers, after I had taken out a token portion for William. And no, I am not going to go into another tirade about the quality and quantity of hot peppers here in Australia. For some reason, Australians seem to think that people who eat hot peppers, and they call them all chilis over here, just do so to get the heat. So none of them have flavour and non of them are really hot so it really becomes a waste of time to even buy them and cook with them, but I keep trying.
Ok, a little tirade. Anyway, I was going to talk about Maeghan and her trip to the doctor. It was not all good news this time but not really bad news either. A lot of doctors saw her, or so I am told, and some of them seemed to have concerns. They were not pleased with the way she is walking. They indicated that if she was bigger, this could cause a lot of problems but she has avoided the problems because of her small size. They are not sure what is causing it, but they are scheduling an MRI sometime in the future. At this writing, we have not received anything yet, but they said it would be a couple of months. They scheduled a new appointment for her in six months, in Februrary. We do not know if it is something to worry about or if it something she will get over. Actually, I don't think the doctors know either. We are still mostly wait and see with Maeghan as no one has been able to predict what will or will not happen with her from the beginning.
She did get a wheel chair this time. They seemed suprised that she had not already received her customized version and gave them one of thiers until it actually arrives. Not that she really needs a wheel chair. They gave it too her because she gets tired easily but I think she just takes advantage of the situation and tries to get someone to pick her up just for the cuddles. She can walk with no problems and does not get that tired that often. Part of it might be that her parents are old and overweight and can't carry even her little weight for very long. But maybe she does need it.
I am told that when she got it, she immediately could maneuver it around the halls and rooms in the hospitol. She does wheelies and spins and donuts and enything else she can think of that might be fun. Since we brought it home, she terrorizes people at the malls, running up and down the isles and running over peoples feet and just generally getting in the way. And everyone appologises to her for getting in her way. She can push past people and run over their feet and they will turn to us and say how sorry they are and they will try to do better and not get in her way. Nothing is ever her fault, but I think we established that back in the beginning of this blog.
So, we wait for the MRI to see if it tells us anything or if they can come up with a new plan for her. I don't recall what the specific things are that they are worried about but she seems to favour her right side and she rols her feet from side to side when she walks, almost to the point of walking on her ankles. She has never had strong ankles, or legs or feet or anything else for that matter, but I think that is what keeps her from running normally as she cannot land and push off from her feet flatfooted, if that makes any sense. I am not that worried but I have had all her life to prepare for anything that might come up, so maybe that is why I don't get worked up about it. Of course, that is just the front I put forward for her and everyone else, but my personnel feelings go beyond what I can express to others.
Juanita is not here right now. And when I say not here, I mean not even in the same state or even on the same land mass. She is in Tasmania. Now, if you think about it, I have mentioned that William has come in and pulled on my arm and I might have given other hints that Maeghan is at school or doing things around the house and at home. You could correctly infer from that, that I am here alone with the kids while Juanita is in Tasmania. Which is precisely the situation I am in at the moment.
Before we go jumping to conclusions and wondering what has gone wrong between Juanita and myself, I have to say that nothing is wrong. Juanita's aunt died this week and she went over to be with her mother. It was going to be way too costly to send the kids over with her, they have to pay full fair these days, so I said they could stay here with me and I would work from home.
Well, the stay here with me part is happening but the work from home seems to be taking a back seat. I do not get a lot of work done having to watch William all the time and both of them at night. It has only been a week but I am so far behind with my work that I am just going to ignore it for a while. Maybe it will all go away. My only backup support goes on vacation at the end of this week, for three weeks, so if Juanita does not come back soon, I will be alone in supporting everything at work and alone with the kids all the time. One would think I should be looking for a new job soon. Hopefully not. I have told them I can do my work at night, but after taking care of William all day, I am too tired by the time I put them to bed. Which, by the way, is suppossed to be 7:30 each night but I am fairly certain they have not gone to bed before 8:30 on any given night. I tell them 7:30 but they somehow manage to put it off for as long as possible. Maybe I should try to actually put them in the beds at night. Who knows, but I do know their mother has a lot to answer for when she gets back.
Just kidding honey, in case you are reading these from over there and I am not nearby to explain. And if you are not reading these, then I am telling everybody else it is all your fault the kids do not go to bed on time. And, that they do not take baths or clean up after themselves or get to school on time.
Again, kidding. She may not come back now just to spite me.
Ok, it is time to go pick up Maeghan from school, or almost time. I am sure William has gone to sleep in the other room, I haven't heard anything break in a while, so I will have to bundle him up and put him in the car. It is raining here now and has gotten a little cold. I forgot Maeghan's rain coat this morning but she has a jumper in her bag if she remembers it is there. Hopefully, she is not too cold and wet. They were having a teddy bear picnic today and I am not sure what they have done since it is raining. There is no lunch room or large assembly hall at this school. Just a small stage and room that only holds about a third of the students at a time. They probably have gone in there.
Maybe next time, I will update everyone on how I have realy coped with being alone with the kids for weeks at a time. That is assuming I have survived.
So, until next time
Talk to you later