My two beautiful girls together!!! This is Mia and our beautiful strong little girl on Friday afternoon just after Lexi was let out of hospital. It was surreal to be driving her back to my Mum's place on my own and just having her in the car with me. I could NOT believe it was real that she was with me.

What a month we have had. It started when we found out about Lexi's heart problems while she was inside of me. If you don't know, I kept my head above water but only just at times. Luckily I had Mia and she just kept me going. I had to get up in the mornings for her. I would have slept alot more if it weren't for her. If you sleep you aren't thinking about things.....
I have alot to update on and I will sooner or later, I will tell Lexi's story on my other blog.
I can tell you RIGHT NOW that there are some awesome people out there doing awesome work in situations that are so hard, all so that our children can live. And not all of them do live... but that there are people willing to try to save lives that are so tiny is amazing and a huge commitment....
There are brave, brave, brave parents out there, we are so fortunate that at this stage Lexi does not need further surgery, but there are special people who go through months and years of hospitals and surgeries and treatments for their children and watch them literally go through what people should not have to watch their children go through.

I have to thanks the Women's and Childrens Hospital in Adelaide and the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.... The care Lexi received and the support Brenton and I got was unbelievable. Not only do all these people make our sick kids better but basically treat the parents aswell.... and with the upmost of patience... Too many names to mention but I have to mention a few, Paul, our escort nurse from WCH, and Kate, Heidi and Liz from ICU in RCH, you guys made a big impact on me!!


Thanks to my special friends, I have many who have helped me through all this time, but my "cyber" friends who are now firmly in my real life that I have to thank....
Lucy
Tatum
and gorgeous Kate (you are my hero by the way)

and everyone else who has sent us positive thoughts, vibes, prayers and anything else...

Hi there...just popping in to update on the new addition to the family....

Ali, Brenton & Mia welcomed LEXI ROSE this morning at 10.15. She was a healthy 7lb 10oz and is doing REALLY well, they are feeling very proud and relieved! Ali is absolutely in love with her gorgeous new daughter.

At this stage it looks like the family will be off to Melbourne on Friday or Monday for Lexi's first heart operation, I am sure that you will be keeping them close to your hearts over the days, weeks and months ahead.

Tatum xx

Hi, just a little update.. well we are in Adelaide awaiting arrival of Bubba..
I'm feeling very ready to meet this little one now. I'm trying to take it easy, and it hasn't been all that hard. Mia is loving spending alot of time with her Nanna, and I'm enjoying spending some time with my Mum. Mia is playing up every night to go to sleep, but I can't blame her I guess, it's all abit different for her at the moment.....
Thanks to Aga for awarding me the blogger award... I'm going to be a slacko and just say I love all of the blogs that I read and so the award will stop with me this time!! SORRY!! And I'm on dial-up at the moment so I'm keeping blog hopping to a minimum!
And Aga, hopefully next year my blog will get a whole lot more interesting!!! Coz, right now it would be ultra boring!!! lol!!

Thanks to my lovely friends....you know who you are who help me through it all... I'm feeling VERY positive and it's all one step at a time, and that is the way our lives will be moving along, one step at a time!!

I have a new blog attatched to this one called OUR HEART FAMILY which has not much info in it yet, but will be used to record our Bubbas journey....

Thanks for visiting.... I'm a big slack blogger ATM but know it's what happens when a baby is about to arrive on the scene! Can't wait to meet this little one and show it off!!!


xxx

Quick little update for whoever may pop in! No photos, as I still don't have my camera back from getting cleaned, almost 3 weeks now! I have been taking photos on my little Kodak but haven't put them to the 'puter yet? It is amazing thouhg, how much I am missing my camera, I am seeing alot of 'photos' of Mia through out my day....
A friend and I put our kids in the car last night and went for a drive around town looking at Christmas lights... There was about 4 that are award worthy, I think I was more excited than the kids when we saw the first lot of magnificent lights.

Am 35 weeks now and feeling it!! Haven't had a photo for a month!! Naughty.... 10 days left and then we head to Adelaide... I really am looking forward to it, I'll be with my Mum for a while before bubs is born. I have really missed our family lately. I haven't lived in the same town as our families for 3 years now, and have gotten used to it,but just lately have been wishing we were closer... But you get that, and there are sacrifices that are made for job opportunities.... I'm not complaining just sometimes wishing....

Quiet weekend here, DH is working today which I don't like, but he sometimes just has to work on the weekends!!!

Take care!
xxxs

Hi! Am still alive!
These two photos are from Friday, we made HEAPS of biscuits, and they are YUM, they still needed the white chocolate on them, but I LOVE them, I tend to only make them at Christmas time every year.
Next to make is the choc truffle balls and white choc truffle balls, which are totally divine!

This is Mia on Thursday night at her Kindy Concert. For those that know where we live, it hardly EVER rains here, except for last Friday night when the concert was originally scheduled and then Thursday night for when it was re-scheduled. About an hour before it was supposed to start the storms rolled in, we had a huge downpour, the sky was red with dust and there was thunder and lightening and rain. Phone calls between four of my friends and the Kindy resulted in us going to the Kindy to hear the kids sing their 4 songs and then back home again! So, that was the Kindy concert for the year! It was a pity that it ended up the way it did as not all of the Kindy Kids were there......

And lastly an older photo that I found on my Kodak camera, which I am
using at the moment as my Canon is in Adelaide having a good clean before bubs arrives.... This is hubby and I when we went and saw Chopper earlier in the year. I saw him quite a few years ago and thought I had enjoyed the show but maybe I have matured as this time I thought he told the same stories and really has not much charisma, just stands there talking and not making much sense! Anyway, we had a nice night just the two of us and it was just before I found out I was pregnant so it was a last hurrah for me, lucky I made the most of the strongbows that night!

As for bubba news, the baby is scheduled to be born by c-section at the end of December, and then we will have to see what happens. Alot of the outcomes are very up in the air at the moment.. Not that the baby won't survive or anything like that because it WILL and it will thrive, BUT what I mean is that we just really don't know what will happen and when as far as operations and procedures for baby! I will try to keep you as updated as I can but I just might not have the time to let you know day to day what is happening in our lives.... Please just presume that no news is good news!!

Am 34 weeks now, and having had swollen ankles, feet and hands for the past couple of days, have been trying to take it easy.. I went to the hospital last night as I just was not comfortable with how my feet were looking and feeling! But all was fine with my blood pressure and proteins etc.. so back home to just rest. I was talking to one of my friends today and am thinking a cleaner might be in order for the last couple of weeks that I am here so that I can concentrate on other more important things like packing and sorting stuff out! Will definately be looking onto that one!
Hope your weekend has been good! I have had DH home all weekend which has been fab!

xxx

Well here I am in this piccy taken just tonight! I am now 31 and a half weeks! And that half is very important, OK!!! Bubba is very active and has the hiccups at least once a day. The heartburn is getting to be a real problem at night now, I stand at the fridge and frantifcally skoll milk out of the carton in the middle of the night(when the Mylanta tabs aren't cutting it anymore) and have waaaay too many pillows under my head at night! Add that to the one under my belly aswell and I'm taking up alot of room in the bed! If I lay on my left side, bubba kicks on the right side of my belly and HARD, same thing happens if I lay on my right side,but opposite, IYKWIM!!! At least I haven't got the leg cramps at night YET!! I have started to get discolouration on my face, not even sure what it is called, maybe pigmentation something or other..... I had it with Mia and it went away afterwards so I'm cool with that! I HAVEN'T got stretch marks yet and didn't with Mia so can you all keep your fingers crossed that I don't get them this time, although, I don't think I will really care, just don't want them!! I'm not complaining really, just writing it down for later, ok! Although I will be happy when the heartburn goes, it is really ridiculous!!

Oh, and when I started the little baby counter on the side, it was on 196 days until the baby was born and now it is not so many days anymore, scary but am starting to get the feeling that I want to meet this little bundle of trouble soon!!




And a pic of Mia taken on my webcam on the laptop, just copying Belinda, saw that she did it a while back!! Mia loved it!

So, all in all a little pregnancy update, ok!

xx

Hi again... two posts in a week, it's a PB for my blogging lately!
Above is my entry into Witchy's CJ in Ruby's swap. I really thought that we were never going to see Witchy's and Orange's CJ's again, but I never gave up, I must admit I had a real bee in my bonnet about them.... It is hard to explain, but I wasn't going to give in...

And the above one is for Naomi's CJ in Simmi's swap, there are some beautiful pages in there already, felt a little intimidated but just did my thing....





As promised, here is Jamie Olivers Chicken Chow Mein Recipe...
It's mainly for you Skye, let me know how you go with it...
Basically the philosophy of his new book, MINISTRY OF FOOD, is that you learn a recipe and pass it on, so kinda don't think he would care that'lil 'ol me is putting it on my blog... I DID change it a tiny bit, no BOK CHOI in this house, DH would not eat it, so I used some fresh button mushies and some carrot as I knew he would eat them. I cooked them in the oil at the start to give them a chance to cook properly then pulled them out and chucked them back in later... Oh and I used peanut oil instead of groundnut oil.....And, one more change, I didn't use chook breast, I used tenderloins, and chopped them up, just coz I like them better!!!
Ok, here it is!!




serves 2
*a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger
*2 cloves garlic
*1/2 -1 fresh red chilli, to your taste
*1 large skinless chicken breast, free-range or organic
*sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
*2 spring onions
*a small bunch of fresh coriander
*1 bok choi
*optional: 4 shiitake mushrooms
*100g (2 bundles) medium egg noodles
*groundnut oil
*1 heaped teaspoon cornflour
*1 x 220g tin water chestnuts
*2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
*1 small lime

TO PREPARE YOUR STIR~FRY
* put a large pan of water on to boil
*peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic
*finely slice the chilli
*slice the chicken into finger-sized strips and lightly season with S & P
*cut the ends off your spring onions and finely slice
*pick the coriander leaves and put to one side, and finely chop the coriander stalks
*halve the bok choi lengthways
*if using the shiitake mushrooms, either tear into pieces or leave whole

TO COOK YOUR STIR~FRY
*preheat a wok or a large frypan on a high heat and once it's very, very hot add a good lug of groundnut oil and swirl it around *Stir in the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes until the chicken browns slightly * Add the ginger, garlic, chilli, coriander stalks, mushrooms (if using) and half the spring onions *stirfry for 30seconds keeping everything moving round the wok quickly *Add your noodles and bok choi to the boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, no longer * meanwhile, add the cornflour, water chestnuts and their water to the wok and give it another good shake to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom *remove from the heat and stir in the 2 tablespoons of soy sauce *halve the lime, squeeze the juice of one half into the pan and mix well * Drain the noodles and bok choi in a colander over a bowl, reserving a little of the cooking water *stir in the noodles and bok choi with a little of the cooking water to loosen if necessary and mix well * have a taste and season with more soy sauce if needed

TO SERVE YOUR STIR~FRY
*use your tongs to divide everything between two bowls or plates, or to lift on to one large serving platter *spoon any juices over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the spring onions and coriander leaves *serve with lime wedges




So there you go, Jamie Olivers recipe! And please please please don't be tempted to leave out the chilli or the lime if you are unsure, they really work well in the dish.. It was truly delicious!! I will also say that if you feel like going and getting yourself a pressie, make it this book, it is full of fab recipes that you will actually cook, and not just shove in the bookshelf.....



xxxx