Firstly, happy 4th of july to all my lovely american friends :)

Cant believe its almost been ANOTHER year since I was last here. I miss my minti family so much, you guys have been the best support in the first few years of my kids lives :)

Interesting stuff been happening. Husband had an argument with a circular saw last month and nearly lost his thumb.. really super gross. During hjs recovery time he has learnt to knit (although hes that ashamed of it I've been forbidden to tell anyone) and is making me scarves, which is great because even in Cairns Im feeling the cold!

Suspecting again that Liam does indeed have asperger's despite the last assessment. His kindy teacher agrees but refuses to give me a referral because it doesnt cause a problem for him there. Hello. Its kindergarten. Its play based. Of COURSE theres no issue yet, theres no stressful learning involved. Can't believe he starts prep next year.

Kody is three this month. Starting to feel old. He starts kindy next year. His teacher is in for a shock after having my passive little liam all year ;}  He has outgrown his allergy to food acid 330, and is getting better at handling small amounts of lactose so it looks like he will grow out of it (yippee). Still being vary cautious to avoid all those nasty additives and preservatives. So gross.

Im in my last semester YAY!!!!! Studying community and political theatre as an elective this semester. After much begging. It isn't and edu subject so Im stoked that they let me in. One of my unusual but passionate interests. Career prospects have changed. No longer teaching/writing books. Well I might write a book yet, my arts lecturer seems to think it would be a good idea, but it wont be a textbook. More like a sarcasticly humerous collection of my life adventures in short story format. At least it will keep me smiling :) 

My new direction is leading me into sub-saharan Africa, DR Congo to be precise. Its kinda scary to research the horror of whats going on in this area. Child soldiers, worst area for rape in the WORLD, people bashing open ant mounds and stealing the grains the ants have gathered to avoid dying of starvation.... I spend a lot of time in tears.

I have only this month started a charity called Smiles For Africa.  In the short term we plan on supplying things like food, mosquito nets, educational provisions, clothes, etc. Whatever is needed at the time.. just to start building contacts and awareness until we can raise enough to achieve our overarching goal, which is to eventually build boarding schools and train the adults in teaching/building/sustainable practices to help the communities overcome poverty. I'm not interested in merely supplying assistance for their needs. They need to be empowered to rise above and beyond the issues and FIX them for themselves.

Anyone interested in what we're up to or more info can find us on facebook  and online or email us at smilesforafrica@live.com.au 

Can always use an extra pair of hands or small donations. Meetings are held online so location is not an issue, and no donation is ever too small, especially at this early stage of development!

Hope everyone is having a great year thus far, and are enjoying their beautiful families in what for the most part are truly blessed countries. Never EVER forget how lucky YOU are.

Assignments coming out of my ears, wont get finished on time.... kids tearing my hair out for me (thanks kody!) Thank god for minti!!

EDIT--

Only one exam left yippeeeeee!

Firstly, I found Woollies sell lactose free yoghurt. Yay for me. No more guilty feelings trying to sneak yoghurt to LIam without Kody knowing. He can have his own and not get sick from it.

Secondly, we finally got Liam's appointment to get checked out. He suffers from anxiety, as well as obsessive compulsive disorder. Much better than autism or aspergers (which is what we suspected), and a lot easier to manage. We know how to make his life easier and less stressful as well as understand whats going on with him and knowing what kind if situations will other him and thus able to help prepare him for situations coming up.

Thats all for know :)

No, I haven't disappeared off the face of the planet! I can't beleive it's been so long though! Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for the million compliments, trikes, gifts and emails I have received while I've been in 'studyland'. NOw the update,  I just moved house (Again, I know!), its a lovely hosue with a room for each of the boys as well as a toy room, and a MASSIVE yard for them to play in, which is awesome because while liam is a gentle creature, his little brother sure is a boisterous child! ok now for the big updates.

Ok, Kody first. He's now just over 1 year old, and a big cuddly gorgeous boy. His weight height and size are all where its meant to be, and hes happy. He tries to copy everything his big brother says, loves to boogie, give cuddles and kisses and clap whenever you say hes clever. He's incredibly musical, and sings a lot. He sometimes even taps his foot in time with music when he's sleeping. At the moment he runs around the house yelling WAK WAK WAK. Liam just learnt how to sing "5 little ducks" and he especially likes the quack quaxk part! While we have dealt with his lactose intolerance fairly well (calcium fortified rice milk, soymilk gives him constipation), it often feels unfair that he cant eat most of the stuff we do, even though he has his 'special' food instead. We have also discovered in the last fortnight that he has an allergy to food additive 330 which is a preservative,, and found in basically any kind of fruit juice or anything with apples or anythign citric in it. I havea firm suspicion that this is related to my citric acid allergy but cannot confirm. Our doctor doesnt want to risk allergy testing on him until he is 2. I have a large suspicion that he will have many  intolerances and allergies like I do. This is making grocery shopping rather difficult.

Liam is nearly three now (omg where did the time go?). He is a self-sufficient toilet user, he only needs help to turn the tap on to wash his hands. This is giving me a lot of freedom! He still spins around in circles when he dances, does his puzzles upsidedown, his memory is phenomonal, he can  recite half of just about any movie he has ever watched (the little mermaid, the heffalump movie, mary poppins, horton hears a who, robin hood, willy wonka...) quite amazing. He speaks in sentances and is amazing everyone he speaks to (excuse me, can you talk quieter, im concentrating!) He loves being a big brother and helping his brother. He tries to teach Kody everything he knows, and its so sweet. He's becoming quite a gentleman lately, he opens my car door for me to get in, and also comes and opens it for me to get out! and he tells me every morning that im gorgeous lol. the cutest thing is when I sneeze. its not jjust 'bless you', its 'bless you darling'. So adorable. I have started the massive uphill battle of trying to get him diagnosed with autism. I am certain he has asperger's syndrome, as I have a family history of it and know what the 'calling cards' if you will, are. Its not anything to worries me, i love him all the same. He is very quirky in that way, and I just want to find out EXACTLY what it is, so I can help him better and help him learn to adjust to life the way he needs to.

Brian is fighting his fight against depression, ADHD, chronic fatigue,, arthritis and carpal tunnell.... I married a cripple :P

Now, we love eachother very much and I am doing all that I can to support him through these very difficult times. He is doing awesome in his studies and is planning to enrol in a computer games graphic design course or something like that through a uni in WA next year as an external student.  He is loving being a daddy and it seems to be the most important thing in his life. Which is how it should be :)

NOw for me. Sheesh. I have two years of uni left, and Im practically begging for someone to give me a classroom. I just cant wait to get in and do my thing. I know we have pracs, but it isnt the same. For the most part, you generally have different methods and philosophies to the other teacher, and you basically have to go with how they do things in order to pass. Sad reality but its true. I guess you cant expect someone who did their degree in the 80's to have the same ideas as those of us who are studying now. THings change. I have had some pretty nasty health problems. Our old doctor gave me a pill that was 2-2.5 times the normal dose, so over the past year or so fake estrogen (which is actually structurally closer to testosterone than estrogen) has been building up in my system, causing me stress, which produces more estrogen, creating migraines and more stress, thus even more estrogen to the point that my body thought it was pregnant, went into shock because it couldnt find a baby, and i ultimately overdosed on estrogen. I went through withdrawal and all sorts of things. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It has to be the worst week and a half of my life. I am not intolerant to oral contraceptives as a result of the amount of fake estrogen i consumed.  All this while I was moving and in the middle of the largest assignment I have completed to date (which I lost when my computer died for no apparent reason.) Oh yeah! In May the university gave me a scholarship.... they gave me a laptop cause my old computer was way too out of date and wasn't good enough to run their website. they give out 1 laptop every year, so I was pretty honoured to get this one.

I have brians brother and one of his sister's coming down to visit us in a few weeks, and then his mother is coming a feww weeks after that. It's going to be nice because none of his family have had an opportunity to meet our Kody yet, and he gets so excited talking to them on skype. Liam loves skype. He can talk everyon'es ear off and not have said enough.

I think thats it for now...

SOMEONE GIVE ME A CLASSROOM WITH SOME KIDS TO TEACH!!!!