Wednesday, June 27, 2012

June 27, 2012

Hi folks.
Well, Charlie and I are both much better - thank goodness.
He went back to school today - just in time to find out who his new teacher will be next year. He spent the afternoon in his new classroom and came home reporting that he really likes his new teacher.
Now I just need to organise a date to go up to the school for my annual 'terrify a teacher' date.
Every year we have to go and explain the ins and outs of Charlie's heart/pacemaker/warfarin therapy to his new teacher - which can sometimes be a bit panic-inducing for staff who haven't encountered him before.
It doesn't take long for them to get used to him though, and what he can and can't do (that being 'almost everything' and 'not much', respectively!!)
He's also very excited to be heading off to London with Pete and the rest of his year group tomorrow to see Shrek at the theatre in the West End as well as a tour around Westminster Abbey. (I've told Pete he has to take a few pictures for the blog!)
Charlie's rucksack is packed ready with a book to read on the way, a puzzle book and a packed lunch and tea! He's also pretty excited that they are allowed to take a few pounds with them to spend on souvenirs at the theatre because normally they aren't allowed to take any spending money on school trips.
It's really going to be a long day - they will be leaving the house at about 7.15am and won't be back before 8.30pm. Fortunately he doesn't have to be in school until 11am on Friday so he can have a bit of a lie-in!
I can't believe he's only got a couple of weeks left in Year 3.
This school year has flown by - the fastest yet. The perils of a new baby arriving last October I guess!
Talking of the baby - Rosie is on top form. I have to take her for her 8-month check tomorrow so I'll find out how much she weighs then.
She's really coming on in leaps and bounds now.
Over the last couple of days she's started pointing with one finger and is starting to put sounds together with some meaning - we're getting 'Mum-mum' for Mummy, 'Nan-Nan' for Nanny, 'Dadda' for Daddy, 'Ro-Ro' for Cheerios and something that sounds a bit like 'Ar-Ar' for Charlie. She's also just about sussed out crawling forwards, although only a few 'steps' at a time.
The only other interesting bit of news is that I had an email from a hospital in Australia this morning - they had found Charlie's blog after searching for information about children with chest drains, and came up with some of his post-Fontan pictures.
The lady who emailed is heading up a team of people involved in a project to improve the care of children who undergo multiple painful procedures as part of their healthcare.
She wanted my permission to use one of my pics of Charlie with his chest drain as part of a resource pack for staff at the hospital to work out the best procedures and least traumatic ways to help other kids like Chas.
One of the reasons I write this blog - apart from it being a day-to-day journal of our life - is to offer information to other parents and/or medics about our journey with HLHS, so I was more than happy to let them use the photo.
Needless to say, Charlie is tickled pink at the prospect of his picture being used to help doctors on the other side of the world, and is looking forward to the next round of 'News Time' at school to share this latest tidbit!
That's all for now - I'll try to get some new pics for your delight and delectation next time!

Sent from my iPhone

1 comment:

Claire said...

Hi,

Lovely to catch up. Wow! What an amazing school trip! I bet parents were queueing up to be helpers. My kids trips seem to be going to the beach on a rainy day! Only joking they do fun stuff too!

Loving hearing what Rosie is up to at eight months...looking forward to Isabelle saying similar words in a few months! I can't imagine it at the moment, but a month ago I couldn't have imagined her sitting up etc then all of a sudden they are. :-)

I like the name of your "terrify a teacher" appointment! Lol.

Glad to hear they can use the photos of Charlie. Dave has relatives in Australia and Danny is on a few "Prayer Groups" out there, when they hear of other Australian children with same condition they ask us to send some photos of Danny to them, again I thought if I had the blog from now on I can tell them to look on there. When I get time to blog that is! ;-)

Glad your feeling better.
Once again lovely to hear a catch up.

Lots of love

Claire
xxx