We headed off to a BBQ with some of James’ work colleagues. I think James is really starting to miss work and the role he played in the project. He is considering going back to work sometime in January if Olivia’s scans go well in December. I think he’s missing the ‘normal’ life, as am I. Although our lives will never be ‘normal’ again, it would be good to experience some of things we once had when we were all well. I desperately long to have a ‘normal’ life and the feeling is often quite overwhelming.
 
The other day I had a phone call from the breakfast producer at Mix 106.3 who said they were auctioning their ‘man bag’ to raise funds for The Olivia Lambert Appeal. I didn’t know anything about it. Apparently, they had a competition running to see who would complete various tasks around town while carrying around a man bag (a very femininely decorated bag at that). If the tasks were completed, the gentleman would win a Carmen Steffen’s bag for his wife. As it turns out, the radio station had so many enquiries about the bag that Carmen Steffen’s have decided to auction off the bag and the money from the winning bid will be donated to The Olivia Lambert Appeal. Our family would like to pass on our heartfelt thanks to Emilia Rossi, the owner of Carmen Steffen’s for generously supporting our cause. Again, we would like to thank Mix 106.3 for their ongoing support.

Olivia went to preschool and as usual had a great time. It is just so wonderful to see her being a ‘normal’ kid and enjoying ‘normal’ fun things.

After preschool, the girls spent most of the afternoon playing in the cubby house while James and I stained it. At the end of the day, we were both surprised by how much we’d actually achieved since we spent a great deal of time watching the girls who were either fighting with each other, trying to help us stain the cubby or getting stain on their clothes!

Later in the day, a couple of the guys from GHD installed a cantilever umbrella to provide some shade to our paved area where the outdoor table is. A fair bit of digging was required in order to install the base of the umbrella and concrete was used to set it in place. The girls had fun putting their hand prints into the wet concrete

We enjoyed having the whole week at home for a change. It was wonderful! Olivia made it to preschool Monday to Wednesday and seems to have settled back in fairly well

James and I enjoyed a lovely massage on Friday. Thanks so much to Sarah, Neil and Jessica for the gift voucher. It was a VERY MUCH NEEDED massage.

Happy Anniversary, Mum and Dad!

We managed to have a fairly quiet weekend. James spent quite a bit of time sanding the outside of the cubby and set up the little kitchen to go inside it. The girls got a few little things to put in it. Oli managed to get her first splinter (the inside of the cubby had not yet been sanded). It was very deep and difficult to get out which was quite distressing for her. We got it eventually.

Olivia was able to enjoy another day of preschool. It’s the first time in a long time she’s actually been able to enjoy three days of preschool. She just loves it. She has some wonderful little friends there and we have been so well supported by the community there. Her teacher, Jenny, and teacher’s assistant, Hillary, have been wonderfully supportive and so helpful and compassionate towards Olivia. I can only hope that when Sarah starts preschool that she has Jenny and Hillary or teachers like them.

We spent the rest of the week busily catching up on things that desperately need to be done around the house

After arranging to book Olivia’s scans for January, James was having second thoughts. I guess there’s never really a good time for scans. However, I have to admit I too had some reservations about booking them for late January which will mark around 4 months since the previous scans. James made a few enquiries and we were informed that, given the unreliability of the MIBG radiation around the holiday period, we could be waiting up until early February for a scan. We weren’t at all keen to wait that long. If anything, we want to keep on top of the disease if something does appear on the scans (even if the doctors continue to tell us that there’s nothing they can do). Consequently, we spoke with Olivia’s doctor and she’s booked Olivia’s scans just before Christmas.