birthday and pneumonia

A week ago last Monday the week started out rather nicely. I had a birthday and Lonnie made me breakfast and sent me beautiful flowers.

Tuesday Maya started feeling sick. Wednesday we went to the doctors (#1 Maya) because her breathing had become shallow. I had Max checked out too (#1 Max)...because, if one kid is sick it won't be long before the other is sick. The doctor said Maya's breathing was a concern. He put her on antibiotics and told us to call back in the morning if there was no improvement.

We had already planned on having friends over for dinner and we thought it might be a good idea for Maya to have a blessing so we went ahead with our dinner plans. Max was thrilled with the attention of these to lovely girls. I don't think I have ever heard him so chatty.

Maya was pretty lethargic and she just sat on the couch the whole time.

With Maya still not feeling better on Thursday morning I called the doctor again and we went in for him to have a look at her again (#2 Maya). He said he could hear crackling in her breathing and he suggested we go into the hospital for a chest x-ray.

So we headed off to Starship Children's Hospital. We picked up Lonnie at work on our way to the hospital, so he could help take care of Max. Max was thrilled to play with all the toys at the hospital, but Lonnie took him home for a nap around noon. We were given a bed for Maya within 15 mins of arriving at the hospital. Within an hour she had a chest x-ray. The x-ray confirmed what our family doctor had suspected, pneumonia. The doctor wanted to keep her in the hospital for a couple hours for observation. She didn't want to get out of bed and was refusing to eat. Thankfully after a couple hours and doubling her antibiotics Maya started to feel better. She even got up to play with the ride-on toys.....so we got to go home.

We spent the weekend at home. Over the weekend Max started coughing and his breathing was also labored. Monday we went into the see our family practice doctor again to check up on Maya (#3) and Max (#2). Thankfully Max's cough didn't sound like pneumonia, but the doctor started him on antibiotics because he sounded raspy. He asked us to come back again at the end of the week and to keep the kids at home.

We admittedly watched a lot of TV, but I also tried to keep the kids interested in coloring, puzzles and helping with cooking. Both kids are still pretty worn out and haven't had a lot of energy, which makes it easier to keep them inside, but they have missed seeing friends.

Thursday we went back to the doctor again. (Maya #4, Max#3) the kids are improving but they were put on another week of antibiotics and the doctor said we should continue to keep them out of public places where they could be exposed to other germs.

It has been a long two weeks. Both kids are improving, but they are still worn out. We are grateful for good medical care, including short waits at the doctor's office and hospital.

Total cost:

7 Doctors visits

1 Emergency Room visit

4 prescriptions

$55 NZ (~$37 US) Pretty amazing considering even with good insurance back in the US this would have cost us about $320 out of pocket.

We spent a lot of time in pajamas.

riding bikes

We posted this video a few days ago, but I wanted to catch up with some comments about it. When we moved into our apartment in February, Maya and Max quickly discovered all the toys of our next-door neighbors' 4-year-old boy. One of his toys is a balance bike that soon had Maya's attention. She started grabbing the bike at every opportunity and pretty quickly became quite good at riding on her own.

As an interesting side note, Max tends to be more adventurous than Maya. At the park, he'll wonder off on his own more readily than Maya will. He'll go down slides and climb ladders sooner. When Maya began riding the bike, we thought Max would want to join in and that they would soon be fighting over the one bike. But for whatever reason, Max didn't show any interest in the balance bike until recently.

After a few weeks, we bought a tricycle for Max, which he was thrilled about but in which Maya had no interest (only the balance bike for her). At that point, we were taking walks with Maya on the balance bike and Max puttering along on the tricycle. The difficulty was that the two kids would go entirely different speeds with Maya would cruise along on the bike (especially when going downhill) and Max moving at turtle pace. The video gives a glimpse of this difference.

Since taking the video, we have purchased a couple used balance bikes, and now Max has more interest in the bikes. We're enjoying the ride of watching them grow up.

one tree point, whangarei

We stopped at One Tree Point in Whangarei on our way back home on Monday. The sky was clear, and the sun was warm. We found this staircase down to the water. I decided to take my shoes off and walk in the water. The kids followed. Lonnie stayed on shore and got photos. Many of the bays near Auckland are quite shallow. When the tide is low, you can walk far away from the shore without getting in too deep. It is perfect for toddlers. Max and Maya loved it!








It is hard to believe that we went swimming (well, the kids swam and I just walked in the water) in June. For those of you on the northern half of the earth, that is like going swimming in December. We have had some cold so far. There are nights when we run our radiant heaters all night long and we bundle up in sweaters and coats, but interspersed are amazing clear blue days that are sometimes even a little warm.

Rawhiti

On Sunday after wrestling through church we went for another drive out along the bays to Rawhiti.
(I've got to figure out a better way to attach a map, but if you click on the google map below it will give you an idea of the route we took.)



When we came to the end of the road Lonnie stayed down at the beach to look after the kids and I hiked up the hill to get a view out into the South Pacific Ocean. It was crazy to think that other than lots islands, there was nothing between me and California than the ocean.

driving to russell

Russell is about a three hour drive from our place in Devonport. We left as soon as the kids woke up Saturday morning. The drive was beautiful. The kids liked seeing all the cows and sheep along the way. As long as they have books, blankets, and water and we are willing sing several verses of Old McDonald, the kids tend to be quite happy travelers.

russell, new zealand

Yes, we still have many more photos from our trip to The Bay of Islands.

It was wet and windy when we arrived in Russell. Saturday night there was a big storm that lasted though Sunday. We spent a lot of time driving around, which was fine, because there was so much to see. New Zealand really is an amazingly beautiful place.

Not a bad last resting spot, huh?




We went to church in a small branch in Pahia. Everyone was nice and friendly, but the chapel was small and Max was not interested in keeping quite. Some Sundays are harder than others, this one was particularly hard.


Finally on Monday the skies cleared and we were able to get a good view out into the islands.

the bach

About the middle of last week, I realized we were coming up on a long weekend. I'd never had The Queen's birthday off, and I didn't want to miss out on a chance to get out and see more of New Zealand. On a whim, I went online and found a bach (cabin) in the Bay of Islands and emailed the owner. He called back right away and said that the place had been occupied for the last year, but it is now empty and he is getting ready to sell it. He wasn't really even sure of the condition of the place, but he was willing to rent it to us for the weekend for almost nothing. I called Lonnie, and he said he was willing to go on the adventure.

The weather wasn't perfect for a sight-seeing weekend. Saturday and Sunday were quite drizzly but thankfully not too cold. The drive to Russell was still beautiful, and we didn't hit any traffic thanks to all those who stayed home because of the rain.

In retrospect, Lonnie decided he would have rather have paid the extra money for a motel. The bach was nice enough but lacked clean water, furniture, and had a lawn mover in the front room as well as a leak in the roof. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the adventure. Sure, we came home dirty and smelling of campfire, but we also ate foil dinners and had a real Kiwi holiday. The kids probably would have enjoyed a little less noise during the big storm on Saturday night, but they loved chasing the ducks on the property.