Bianca gets guitar lessons on a Wednesday at lunch time. Her teacher offered to do this for free, because he loves singing and he loves to play and so this worked perfect for us. After Wednesday Bianca came home and I could see a few things that looked like she wasn't doing it quite right. She's really new to it and it will take time, but I cannot play the guitar and there is no way I can help her. So I asked her teacher if he could please just give me a bit of guidance on how it is supposed to work. This afternoon when I picked Bianca up from school he quickly gave me a quick demonstration. And wow! He plays well! And he sings well! And he made it look fairly simple and straightforward and I can hear the beat and we went home all motivated. Got home, tried what he did and... it sounded nothing like his demonstration. In fact where I can actually hear the melody when he plays it, it simply sounds like some weird attempt to play when I try... Somehow I don't think the guitar is a very easy instrument to play (and to think I wanted to learn to play the violin...).
Tonight Caitlyn got sick and vomited all over her lap just after she ate some of her supper. Sigh! I sure hope it was just a one off and not a tummy bug we are dealing with. It has been a long time since we dealt with this kind of thing... So we might be in for a long night...
Tomorrow Bianca has netball and cheerleading. She'll be playing Goal Shoot in the second half. It is not her favourite position anymore, but at this age they rotate every week. Then in the afternoon cheerleading. We've been working hard at handstands and she cannot quite do it without help, but she's getting better at it.
And hopefully on Sunday we'll get to go swimming for a bit.
And that is our weekend in a nutshell. Hope you all have a good one!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Bones don't wobble
Today it was time again. Time to start walking again. Now I could try and convince myself that I'm simply big boned, but bones don't wobble. So it is time to try and get fit and lose a bit of weight.
Today is a beautiful day. A bit chilly, but clear blue skies, sunny and simply beautiful. As I walked past all the houses and the trees it was so cool to hear all the different birds. Especially the Tuis. And I even got to see a pair of Kereru (New Zealand wood pigeons). They are simply beautiful. It almost felt like spring is in the air...
Hopefully I'll keep going this time round. I do enjoy walking even if I'm horribly unfit and soon enough it will be summer and getting dark much much much later than it does at the moment.
Today is a beautiful day. A bit chilly, but clear blue skies, sunny and simply beautiful. As I walked past all the houses and the trees it was so cool to hear all the different birds. Especially the Tuis. And I even got to see a pair of Kereru (New Zealand wood pigeons). They are simply beautiful. It almost felt like spring is in the air...
Hopefully I'll keep going this time round. I do enjoy walking even if I'm horribly unfit and soon enough it will be summer and getting dark much much much later than it does at the moment.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Seems like a lifetime ago
Tonight for the first time since 2006 (that would be 5 years ago), Bianca and Caitlyn had swimming lessons. Well actually this was the first time ever that Caitlyn had swimming lessons.
In 2006 Bianca was 3 and she had swimming lessons and actually had a bit of a 3 year old crush on her swimming teacher :-). She made great progress and all was going well. Then Caitlyn was born in February 2007. We had the best of intentions to continue with Bianca's lessons and the best of intentions to start Caitlyn with lessons as soon as she was old enough. Bianca was actually just starting to get used to the whole concept of putting her face in the water.
Sometimes I look at photos we took not too long after Caitlyn was born. Caitlyn had her very first "swim" with Terence in his arms and on that day Bianca was jumping in over and over and over and each time showing off how she would put her face in the water.
Little did we know that not long after Bianca would be diagnosed with leukemia. It is hard to think that on that day where she was so happily playing in the pool, we were completely oblivious that she actually already had leukemia cells invading her body. We didn't know it then.
On the 5th of June 2007 we had a meeting with Doctor Anne - Bianca's oncologist. We sat in this tiny little room. I had this list of questions typed up because I didn't know if I would be able to actually physically ask those questions. And Doctor Anne was going through the treatment documents. We had to sign a bunch of forms. Doctor Anne was explaining about some of the side effects how it would make Bianca lose her hair, how it would make her sometimes feel grumpy or possibly depressed or have cravings or mood swings and she talked about neutrophils. I had no idea how they determined when her neutrophils would be high or low. It was this totally foreign concept that I suddenly had to learn about. I remember saying that Bianca liked swimming and that we planned to continue her lessons if possible and Doctor Anne gave us this very definite "NO" "Sorry, but no swimming". We never realised that a swimming pool (and an indoor one especially) would be one of the biggest health risks to kids with cancer. The risk that they would pick up infections that could make them deathly ill and land them in hospital. And so for the next 830 days (the time it took for her treatment) we avoided indoor swimming pools and we had to stop our plans for lessons. Sigh! Just when we were making such good progress too!
So now, finally 5 years after the last time Bianca had lessons, nearly 2 years since Bianca stopped treatment we finally started lessons again. With the Raumati Swim Club. And I felt a bit anxious. Not so much about Bianca, but more worried about how Caitlyn would be. Would she actually be happy to get into the pool without me? Without freaking out? And she did fine. Apart from a few tears as soon as she got in, she had a great time. Bianca and Caitlyn have a long way to go, tonight they practiced blowing bubbles and getting their faces a bit in the water. But I believe that they'll get there. Soon enough they'll be just where all the other kids are. This is simply just one more step into normality away from the world of cancer.
In 2006 Bianca was 3 and she had swimming lessons and actually had a bit of a 3 year old crush on her swimming teacher :-). She made great progress and all was going well. Then Caitlyn was born in February 2007. We had the best of intentions to continue with Bianca's lessons and the best of intentions to start Caitlyn with lessons as soon as she was old enough. Bianca was actually just starting to get used to the whole concept of putting her face in the water.
Sometimes I look at photos we took not too long after Caitlyn was born. Caitlyn had her very first "swim" with Terence in his arms and on that day Bianca was jumping in over and over and over and each time showing off how she would put her face in the water.
Little did we know that not long after Bianca would be diagnosed with leukemia. It is hard to think that on that day where she was so happily playing in the pool, we were completely oblivious that she actually already had leukemia cells invading her body. We didn't know it then.
On the 5th of June 2007 we had a meeting with Doctor Anne - Bianca's oncologist. We sat in this tiny little room. I had this list of questions typed up because I didn't know if I would be able to actually physically ask those questions. And Doctor Anne was going through the treatment documents. We had to sign a bunch of forms. Doctor Anne was explaining about some of the side effects how it would make Bianca lose her hair, how it would make her sometimes feel grumpy or possibly depressed or have cravings or mood swings and she talked about neutrophils. I had no idea how they determined when her neutrophils would be high or low. It was this totally foreign concept that I suddenly had to learn about. I remember saying that Bianca liked swimming and that we planned to continue her lessons if possible and Doctor Anne gave us this very definite "NO" "Sorry, but no swimming". We never realised that a swimming pool (and an indoor one especially) would be one of the biggest health risks to kids with cancer. The risk that they would pick up infections that could make them deathly ill and land them in hospital. And so for the next 830 days (the time it took for her treatment) we avoided indoor swimming pools and we had to stop our plans for lessons. Sigh! Just when we were making such good progress too!
So now, finally 5 years after the last time Bianca had lessons, nearly 2 years since Bianca stopped treatment we finally started lessons again. With the Raumati Swim Club. And I felt a bit anxious. Not so much about Bianca, but more worried about how Caitlyn would be. Would she actually be happy to get into the pool without me? Without freaking out? And she did fine. Apart from a few tears as soon as she got in, she had a great time. Bianca and Caitlyn have a long way to go, tonight they practiced blowing bubbles and getting their faces a bit in the water. But I believe that they'll get there. Soon enough they'll be just where all the other kids are. This is simply just one more step into normality away from the world of cancer.
Just a fun little goal :-)
I'm in my 30's and I'm learning to play the recorder. That's right. I bought a recorder and a book a while back and I'm slowly but surely making my way through it learning to read the notes and to play a few tunes.
Why? you might ask - well no real reason. Just that I've wanted to learn some sort of music instrument and I have yet to convince Terence to allow me to learn the violin. So I decided the recorder would, not only be easier and simpler, but if I turned out useless the $20 or $30 I spent on it would not be as big a loss as spending hundreds of dollars on a violin.
I have no aspirations on becoming a world famous recorder player (is there even such a thing?) or to even play in front of an audience - so this is really just a little goal for myself. I didn't grow up learning to read or play music. I don't think I would have been all that interested when I was younger, but now that I'm an adult I thought it would be cool to be able to play at least something. So the recorder it is :-).
And so far so good - I can (providing I have the notes in front of me) play Old McDonald had a farm, Hush little baby and Twinkle twinkle little star. And I'm learning "Ode to Joy" which is a bit harder to get myhead fingers around.
Sometimes goals can just be for fun! :-) Have you learned something new just for the heck of it?
Why? you might ask - well no real reason. Just that I've wanted to learn some sort of music instrument and I have yet to convince Terence to allow me to learn the violin. So I decided the recorder would, not only be easier and simpler, but if I turned out useless the $20 or $30 I spent on it would not be as big a loss as spending hundreds of dollars on a violin.
I have no aspirations on becoming a world famous recorder player (is there even such a thing?) or to even play in front of an audience - so this is really just a little goal for myself. I didn't grow up learning to read or play music. I don't think I would have been all that interested when I was younger, but now that I'm an adult I thought it would be cool to be able to play at least something. So the recorder it is :-).
And so far so good - I can (providing I have the notes in front of me) play Old McDonald had a farm, Hush little baby and Twinkle twinkle little star. And I'm learning "Ode to Joy" which is a bit harder to get my
Sometimes goals can just be for fun! :-) Have you learned something new just for the heck of it?
Monday, August 1, 2011
Back to school and back to routines
I've actually got some photos to post from our trip to Aotea Lagoon on Friday, but I need Terence's help downloading photos, so as soon as he can help, I'll do that :-).
Today was back to school for Bianca. And she was excited. She was ready an hour before the time.
With the start of Term 3 it means we are now back into our usual routines. Homework, mathletics, reading every night, gymnastics for Bianca on a Monday, netball and cheerleading on a Saturday. Busy, but fun times.
One of the things Bianca is working towards the cheerleading competition she'll be doing in November. That means today I had to start looking at flights and accommodation because the competition will be in Auckland. One of the things Bianca is so excited about is possibly meeting up with her best two friends from Auckland.
I also had to start looking at a local cattery to keep Prince Charming and Looey for the weekend. I'm a bit anxious about that - they are really, really wary of strangers. I have no idea how they'll cope with something like that and I guess we can only find out.
Today was back to school for Bianca. And she was excited. She was ready an hour before the time.
With the start of Term 3 it means we are now back into our usual routines. Homework, mathletics, reading every night, gymnastics for Bianca on a Monday, netball and cheerleading on a Saturday. Busy, but fun times.
One of the things Bianca is working towards the cheerleading competition she'll be doing in November. That means today I had to start looking at flights and accommodation because the competition will be in Auckland. One of the things Bianca is so excited about is possibly meeting up with her best two friends from Auckland.
I also had to start looking at a local cattery to keep Prince Charming and Looey for the weekend. I'm a bit anxious about that - they are really, really wary of strangers. I have no idea how they'll cope with something like that and I guess we can only find out.
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