Unexpected News

Well the holidays are over, and so is all the travelling for atleast a few weeks phew!...... we have enjoyed time with family in Taupo, and had many visitors to entertain over the last couple of weeks....

a icy blast of snow has come and gone along with a good friend and her little boy.... we loved having them here. 

To end our holiday we had a hospital appointment in Auckland for middle B, so we all piled into the car ( minus Mike ) and headed to Mums for a long weekend.

Friday morning an early morning call from the hospital informed me that our appointment was cancelled..... our surgeon was sick, bummer! All that way for a cancellation. 

However it turned out this was just aswell, fate I think....

Little J had a doctors appointment in the afternoon to find answers about what had caused the mysterious lymph nodes on his neck... so with mum's suggestion I moved it forward.

So off I trotted with four kids in tow to the doctors....

we went through the normal checks.... temperature, ears and throat, and a check of the lungs and heart.....

Then the doctor took the stethoscope away from his ears looked up at me and asked " Did you know he has a heart murmur?"

Thats when the adrenalin kicked in.... another discovery, another to add to the list.... but as usual I accepted the news with many questions.... though much of that information was a blur later.

I walked out of the centre, as before...four kids in tow, but this time on auto pilot.... my mind racing with this unexpected news, so many things made more sense, I was now able to piece symptoms together.

Then I walked into mums work, and thats when I crumbled, like so many times before.... a familiar face, thats all I needed to let my tears fall and my body go limp, as the andrenalin high I was riding made me crash.....

My gorgeous, cheeky, huggy, loving boy has a heart murmur.

In awe of his new baby sister two years ago

Now I know many people who have heart murmurs can go through childhood to adulthood with no problems, and that some heart murmurs just turn out to be innocent.  But our doctor tried to get him into a hospital heart clinic for that day, and then I recieved a text later that day ( who knew doctors text patients? ) from him to remind me to get a referral from our local GP to our local hospital for a thorough investigation, this all leads me to think its more than innocent..... so thats where I'm left now.... I'm back home, the holidays are over, the boys are back at school....

and its just me and lil miss....

While she's asleep, I'm alone with my thoughts comtemplating the appointments ahead.... hoping for the best outcome. 

My Boy is loving my latest knit

All that cheering from the sidelines has worked!

I was hoping for a good outcome this time around, and it is exactly what I hoped for!

My Middle B is loving his hoody....while it was blocking,

 he actually kept telling me with certainty that it was dry!

It was obvious it couldn't wait to try it on..

It actually encouraged Big J to get out his "itchy" jumper 

that you can see in the background 

.... that has resided in the bottom drawer for the last year... miracle!

My favorite part of the jumper is the hood

 ( and probably one reason why it was well received )

I love the way the variegated looks with the solid stripes....

though I have to say knitting that part was a challenge, having to battle with the tangled yarn. 

The pattern is Little Hoodlum and the wool is a Limited edition Vintage from Skeinz......

 its so soft, and has possum in it... so extra warm

And the best thing about the jumper, is it's snowproof!

Yes we had about 15cm overnight on Sunday through to Monday.

The best in the last 10 years!....

I had an old friend come to stay with her little boy, so there was alot of excitement in our household on Monday morning,

 from both big and small alike.....

Snow angels, Snow men, and woman..... and rolling giant snowballs was on the agenda ..... lots and lots of fun!



And Lil Misses favourite part was eating the snow

Latest Knit

So this is the latest knit,

and what can I say other than " I don't like it"

Sure I like the pattern, I love the increases of the skirt, the cross over of the top... and of course seamless knitting....

but that's where it ends.

Its the yarn I'm just not loving..... when I purchased it, it looked on the website like it was more of a paua shell multi colour ( thanks laptop! )..... but when I received it, it was a different story....

something the photos don't show, is how green it really is!

To me the yarn just looked like it suited a boy toddlers jumper.... you know, fun and bright, perfect for a kid of that age.

I could have sent them back. 

Skeinz that I bought it from, would have accepted it,

afterall sometimes your purchase just doesn't cut the mustard....

 and I was all ready to....

 but my darling dearest child of mine.... who loves to play with my wool.... my fabric ( she thinks they make great headwear ) and any other item she can her hands on........

ripped of the paper bands, and not just one! but all of them....

 Man! that child is lighting fast... but thats a whole other story!

So resigned to the fact that I was stuck with the yarn..... I casted on a Oriental Lily by Tikki, and teamed it up with a purple yarn

 ( pilled terribly ) for the "obi sash", hoping that it would make it more girlyfied

But that still didn't make me any happier with the way this turned out.....so this is now to officially a hang around the home, or when its especially chilly, pyjama jumper/dress

I'm sure I can live with that!

Just realised this is the fourth item I have knitted with multicoloured yarns!  And I'm never over the moon with how they turn out....

 I think I've come to the conclusion that they are just not for me!

  Better stick to the solid colours... and maybe....just occasionally..... the semi solids.  

Trouble Leaving comments on some Blogs?

Is anyone else having trouble leaving comments on some blogs?

There are alot of lovely blogs out there, some of which are following me....

and I can't comment on your blogs

A friend was having the same problem, so I changed my settings to the following:

Go to: Settings

Then: Comments

 Scroll down to : Comment Form Placement:

and change it to 'Pop up window'

This has worked so far... you may want to check your settings?

Loving this week

First of all

Loving loving!! Walking with Dinosaurs.....

( Pictures are blurry, because we couldn't use the flash,

although it didn't stop many others doing so... so rude! )

I bought the tickets in February, so this has been a long awaited trip in our family.... and it was so worth it!!

The picture below, shows the scale of the presenter and the Brachiosauruses... which the largest of the two was only 2/3's scale,

and still huge! And I learnt lots..... did you know a adult Brachiosaurus is 3 stories high and the length of two buses...

 I didn't!

And of course the T Rex was awesome, truly the best, and he came over to our seats and let out a huge roar above us.....

loved our seats!!!!

We took only the boys along, so Nana got to spend some quality time with her grand daughter, loving that...

and loving the mittens that my mum bought for her that day, and then sewed elastic to just like her mum used to for her..... 

and this is what awaited me that night on my bedroom door.....

loving you Mum



Loving our weekend in Auckland,

and our trip to the land...

 even though it was raining Big J and I still got to have fun jumping around in the long long grass and getting thoroughly soaked....

can't wait to live there, even in the rain it is simply peaceful

Loving bonding time with Big J.... simple things like walking around the mall, arms wrapped around each other... love this and soaking it up as much I can.

Now we are home....and I'm loving my old china set that mum found.   I had squirrelled it away many years ago.... carefully wrapped up in tissue ( peach coloured, do they still sell that colour? ) and packed into a box that one of our japenese students gave me...

I think my Nana bought this for me....

and now lil miss can enjoy

Last of all love this rascal.... even though she has just undone all my hard work... hmmmmnn!

Yes! thats undies on her head.... done all by herself

Linking up with Paisley Jade here



My Creative Space - Cosy PJ's

Lil Misses Cosy Warm footed PJs

The pattern: Kwik Sew 3527

Bought online from Sewing patterns.com......

and what a palava!!! Took a whole 2 days just to get the correct software to download it, and lots emails back and forth with their support team.... and after asking for a refund many times...

It finally worked.  

As for the pattern itself, although not all the pattern lined up, when I joined together the tiled A4s,

the construction itself was very simple to put together...

so after all that arghhh!!  I am actually really happy with it!



I used some of the boys fleece that I left over...

hence the patched look, 

and now that my pink fleece has arrived I intend to make a couple more... because these are super warm, and lil miss actually giggles when I dress her in them for bed time!

Also Little J has begged for a pair to replace his store bought ones

which he refuses to let go of, I have had to cut the feet off just so he can squeeze into them.... But I don't mind because I can relate....

I had a love affair with my blue terry towelling nightie, it was size 4 and I wore it till I was atleast 9, it started life as a long dress and ended up as a mini when I finally gave in....

 that must have been the bane of my mums life.

Anyways moving on.....

linking up to more creative spaces here