Amelia's 3rd Birthday and my first rock concert

Amelia celebrated her 3rd birthday in true rock style. Spending the morning opening her presents and dancing along to her new CD player we then had a sausage sizzle and finished off eating her "meeli bug" birthday cake (Meeli bug being the nickname we've given her).As the afternoon approached we headed out to a reserve where dad was doing lights for a Kiss tribute band called Kiss Alive. Dad is a huge Kiss fan and it was always going to rub off onto the two girls. Amelia and her big brother both got their faces painted, Amelia as the star child (Paul Stanley) and Kade as spaceman (Ace Frehley). Amelia had been excited all day,she kept asking to see Paul,dad took her backstage to see the guys getting ready with their make-up and costumes,you couldn't wipe the smile off her face.The loud music,the flashing lights and the cool pyrotechnics made the day a birthday to remember. After the concert Amelia and her dad even had their photo taken with the band. The night ended quite late and I must say I'm quite surprised that Jayda out lasted Amelia,with Amelia falling asleep on the picnic rug. Something tells me that this will definitely not be their last rock concert!

Update on Jayda's achievements

Well Jayda is now 8 and a half months old and I can't believe how much she has changed. Jayda is in the process of having 4 teeth come through at once,all up the top and I can't say she is pleased about it. Although her teeth are enabling her to try new foods,which she loves to do,they are keeping her up at night.

Jayda has now found her rhythm when it comes to crawling,we weren't sure if she was going to because she was becoming very found of rolling everywhere. It had only taken a couple of days of crawling forward a few paces for her to eventually figure out that she could get to places faster this way rather than rolling and becoming stuck up against a wall or under a chair somewhere.

At the same time as Jayda was getting the crawling down pat she had started to use the furniture to pull herself up onto her knees. That only took her a few days before she realised she could get even higher by standing on her feet,this we weren't expecting her to do on her own yet. Everywhere she crawls whether its to the bathroom or the bedrooms she goes to a wall or piece of furniture uses  her hands for support and pull herself up,she is even becoming a little too confident for our liking that she stands there against the wall with only one hand as support....scary!!!!

I must say that Jayda being able to get to places on her own has been a good thing but there has been a down fall to it too. She is getting into things she shouldn't be. I can tell you now Matt is getting quite frustrated when she crawls to his DVD player and bangs on it like a drum,I don't think the laser inside it appreciates it very much. But now at least she can follow me or her sister anywhere in the house,better to have her happy then grouchy when there are things to do around the place.

Jayda has also had her dermatology visits reduced to 3 monthly. The hospital is happy with the birthmark at the moment especially because she has been off the propranolol for 1 month now. She is doing it for herself and there hasn't been any signs of regrowth,thank goodness! We were told that sometimes the hemangioma can have a relapse but we know what to look out for and if this occurs she'll be put back on the propranolol. Laser treatment on the birthmark will be discussed when Jayda is over the age of 2yrs,by this stage it may have started to fix itself but she may need some touch ups in areas,but that is way off to worry about at this point in time. As for Jayda's arterial anomalies we wont know of any changes until she has her next MRI/MRA which will most likely be done in Texas,which is when she'll be next due for one. At the moment all we can do about the blockage is wait and see how well the other arteries compensate for the flow of blood to that area of the brain. We still haven't been told if she should be on aspirin,there has been division between the doctors here whether this will be beneficial for her or cause more of a problem in the future. Hopefully we may get more answers in 3 weeks when we get to Texas!

My first Christmas

 A bit late but here are some pics of Jayda's first Christmas.Jayda had to be woken up as her older sister was very keen to see what Santa had left under the tree.Jayda was able to tear off the wrapping with a little help and if not quick enough Amelia would open them for her.Nanna, Pop and her aunties came over later where she got to open even  more presents. By the end of the day Jayda was exhausted I think it was all the presents she opened and being in the presence of great company.

Accommodation booked

Our hotel is now booked for our 3 week stay in Houston,Texas.We are staying at the Marriot Residence Inn,Reliant Park.It is fully self contained so we are able to cook our own meals etc.It is only a short distance from the hospital and it has a shuttle service to the hospital.So now with our flights and accommodation booked and our appointments made we are ready to go.

Auction Success

On Sunday we held our silent auction at the GONELLS FOOTBALL CLUB.We had spent hours the night before gift wrapping the items and getting everything in order. Matt started his first trip of dropping things off at 9:00am.The day started very slow and for a time we were getting quite worried.By 3:30pm we started to get some people in and some activity in the bidding,and an hour later when we started our big auction most items had bids on them.The raffle for the hamper we put together was selling really well,having an estimated value of $1300 worth of goods.We started our main auction and we were surprised at how well some things went for.So we can now announce our total for the day was $7370.This total is made up of silent auction,main auction,raffle tickets,100 club and a surprise donation from Kimbo from the CORFIELD TAVERN of $823.We would very much like to thank Bob Uttenbrook of the Gosnells Football club,who in a short space of time Bob had got a huge amount of goods for the auction.Thanks  to Norm Barratt of the Gosnells Football Club.Norm is the outgoing president and he donated a custom made esky for the auction, he is top bloke and our family were touched by his generosity and the kind words he spoke.A huge thanks to our neighbour Steely ,also member of the football clubs committee for his efforts in getting auction items and selling raffle tickets. We would also like to thank THREEPLAY Acoustic for playing for the first part of the day.

THREEPLAY Acoustic

Thanks to everyone.

Both Tiff and I would just like to thank a few people and businesses for their support.Cally at PRO AUTO.Renee and Nat at ADDICTED 2 HAIR.David at GIBBONS HOLDEN.Bob,Trevor and Steely at GOSNELLS FOOTBALL CLUB.Elisha at the ABN Foundation.Kimbo at CORFIELD TAVERN.W.A. CHARITY DIRECT.Lorraine and Del A'Court.Hayley White and K.L.I.A.Martin Dillon at PINE RIVERS RSL QLD.To all the people and businesses not listed you are not forgotten and we have tried to list all donations so thank you to everyone for your support and we hope for your ongoing support.We have met some absolutely tremendous people and your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Flights booked.

We have now booked our flights for our long journey to Texas.Leaving from Perth on the 27th Jan 10 and arriving in Houston 22 hrs 19 mins later if all goes to plan.We have a couple of stop overs in Sydney,San Francisco and Denver,so that will be good for the kids.Thanks to Elizabeth Anderson at FLIGHT CENTRE Forrest Lakes for booking our flights and taking no commission this saved us a lot of money.