Tooth Fairy visits the Tanners!

Kobe this week lost his 1st tooth! It was met with such excitement with relatives being woken via phone out of their bed early in the morning to be told! It's funny how Sophie is gaining teeth and Kobe is losing them! There are no more wobbly teeth to report ... so the tooth fairy can have a little break before she makes her next visit!

Moving ahead ...

It's been only a little over 2 weeks since Sophie has had the brace off and in that time she has learnt to pull herself up! It's amazing how quickly she has adapted. We're now in the process of child proofing everything! We've had a few breakages recently as she's been able to reach things at a new height! I'm sure once her legs have strengthen enough she'll take the next challenge of walking.

Our spunky boy & scarey girl!

Kobe 30.11.07

Darth Sophie...beware 2.12.07

Goodbye brace forever!

We had our check up yesterday with the Orthopaedic Surgeon and I'm excited to let you know that after 7 months of wearing the brace - Sophie is BRACE FREE!

He showed me the xrays and her development from her first xray at 4 months old when it was first detected (she went into a brace at 8mths) - it was amazing to see the transition over time. Her hip is now in its proper place and the ball of the hip is developing as it should! YAH, YAH, YAH!! It is still slightly smaller than the right hip but that will develop without the aid of a brace over time.

She will need to go back to the OS when she turns 2 just so that he can monitor her hips' development after she has become mobile ie walking. So it's all super exciting! He advised that it may only take 2 weeks - 3 months to catch up to her 15mth old peers - so he's given a huge window for her to progress. She's started in the last 2 weeks to pull herself up - so once she gets some strength in her legs I'm sure she'll be off!

Last night didn't go very well - Sophie woke 4 times through the night as she had put herself into some awkard positions. The ability to move around in her cot was a bit different for her. We went cold turkey in not wearing the brace - but I think we may have to wean her off slowly...considering it's been her 2nd skin for 7mths - I suppose we shouldn't expect miracles overnight :)

We spent yesterday with grins plastered to our face - however there were lots of tears of relief and excitement as well! Sophie and I on our way home popped into our favourite Chocolate cafe and enjoyed a hot chocolate and a chocolate each as celebration! (see photo!)

THANK YOU everyone for your prayers, well wishes, thoughts and care you've shown to us since we first heard that Sophie had hip dysplasia 11 months ago. You've certainly helped us get through it.

Sophie's sleeping positions ...

Sophie has always been funny how she gets herself into the weirdest positions to sleep. Even with the brace on she seems to sleep in whatever position she finds comfortable....hummmm??

Nearly CHRISTMAS!

Kobe decided that today was the day to decorate! So up went the tree and he beautifully decorated it with tinsel and decorations. He did a great job! Next it was time to be Rudolf and take his little sister for a ride around the house. Little did she know that she was meant to be Santa ... ho, ho, ho!

Growing up ...

Our little girl yesterday started the process of feeding herself.

Try getting the spoon off her now!!

Little Miss Independent!

Sharing a moment ....

Here we are sharing a moment together.

It felt pretty special at the time.

Making cups of tea in the bath ...

Kobe and Sophie love their baths. It was so cute to capture both of them making cups of tea. I don't know whether you can see Sophie nods her head when I ask her if it's yummy! We hope you enjoy the new videos and photos we've added today! Our kids are an absolute blessing!

Recent photos...October:

Kobe 17.10.07

Making cups of tea in the bath!

Spikey Soph...cleaning her teeth!

Kobe, Zane & Bethany - Final drop off to school for Bethany

Going for a ride on Puffers!

Help me ... I scooted my way into this box and I can't get out!

Sibling love

Facebook

Both Gary & Susan have recently joined the Facebook extravaganza sweeping the world! So if you would like to chat to us, play games or keep up with current news - make us your friends on http://www.facebook.com/ it's very addictive :)

That 4 letter word ...

W O R K!
Unfortunately I got the dreaded phone call from work this week that a shift had become available for me on Mondays ... so it's back to work I go! For those of you who are unaware I work as a Cafe Attendant at the local YMCA Aquatic Centre in the Cafe. For the moment it is only 2 hours a week (yep, whopppeee do!) - but in a way I'm grateful for that because it means I can start off slowly and hopefully build up more hours in weeks/months to come. It's from 10-12 but if it's busy I'll be asked to stay on til 2pm. It does mean however that for the first time ever I need to use a creche ! Sophie will attend the creche at the YMCA Centre where I work - it's literally the next room - which is wonderful and certainly gives me peace of mind. I know that she will love the socialisation with the other kids - but I did get a bit misty eyed knowing that I was giving up my little girl for that short time! I'm sure in time - I'll be grateful for the break and I know that I'm once again going to enjoy socialising with big people!

Sophie being a chatterbox!

Sorry about all the videos. I've finally worked out how to put video on our blog .. yah! I had to cut this one a bit short - but Sophie was such a chatterbox whilst I was changing her yesterday - she went on for ages!

Kobe the Sandman - Fiji

Sophie making waves in Fiji

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

We're back from our holidays to the Gold Coast and Fiji with lots to share!

I think we've come to the conclusion that no matter how much planning, preparation and excitedness you can get about a holiday there are 2 things you can't control ... the weather and your health!

Gold Coast - Currumbin:

This is definitely a holiday we hope to forget! We arrived on the Saturday in anticipation of our week ahead. Full of excitement, ready to soak in the sun, enjoy the sites and work through the list of things we hoped to do!

Day 2 - Father's Day - Grandma's Birthday - it began! Kobe took the first blow and then it continued to head down the line of all of us! We all developed a seriously horrendous bout of gastro - vomiting, diarrhoea and fainting. Poor little Kobe who was all excited to spend the day at Dreamworld on his birthday was unfortunately forced to spend the day at home, as by that stage 3 out of the 5 of us were badly sick with gastro. In fact 2 nights running we required the ambulance (for Gary, then Grandma) and poor Grandma even had to stay some nights in hospital. Definitely not the holiday we had hoped for. Sophie got off lightly with the gastro - PTL - thankfully a few disgusting nappies was all we had to endure.

We did venture out a few times - just to get out of the Apartment which we grew to loathe (Gary named it: the house of vomit and faeces). The smell of disinfectant almost makes Susan heave these days!! It took til day 6 (of 7) for us to feel almost 100%!

(This is the view from our apartment, plus on the last day a Kookaburra decided to land on our balcony. It was super friendly)

We spent a few hours at the Currumbin Sanctuary (mid week) and seeing Uncle Ron at work. Kobe loved the kangaroos, and was fortunate to be asked up on the stage for the snake show. We were so excited for him that he was picked - as he needed some attention and pampering after the week we had.

Kobe @ Currumbin - Snake show

Family shot at Currumbin with a baby Croc!

Unfortunately too, the other thing we couldn't control was the weather. It rained or was overcast (like our mood!) almost everyday we were at the Gold Coast. However, we did get to go to the sanctuary and go up the top of Q1 (the world's tallest residential building) and also go to the much awaited Dreamworld!

The day before we left we decided we were up to it to go to Dreamworld. We really owed it to Kobe seeing it was something he'd been looking forward to for years. Plus he was going a bit bonkers in the apartment all week. Well, we had a fantastic time and Kobe had a ball. You can tell from his face that he was in his element and loved going on all the daredevil rides. He just shone the whole day. Sophie spent the day with Grandma & family and was such a good little girl. So it was wonderful to spend some alone time with our little 6 year old.

The much anticipated day arrived ...

The dodgems! Kobe drove the whole time!

Just hopping off the Rollercoaster. One of Kobe's favourite rides!

The next day we were off to Fiji. But first we caught up with one of Susan's friends - Brooke and her daughter, Olivia - from her mumchat (online group). We had to put it off to the very end for fear of contiminating them (lol)! It was wonderful to finally meet Brooke and Olivia and also enjoy our first decent meal from the whole week! We were also meant to meet up with some friends from the Hip Dysplasia chat group - but unfortunately they too came down with gastro!

With Brooke and Olivia at Elephant Rock, Currumbin

FIJI:

Bula! We wiped our hands clean of our holiday of doom at the Gold Coast looking forward to hopefully spending a wonderful week in Fiji. We weren't disappointed. We had a fantastic time! Despite Susan and Sophie developing a severe throat and eye infections we were determined not to let that damper us and went to the Resort Clinic and were placed on antibiotics! We didn't want sickness to flood our entire holiday!

We spent a majority of our time in the pool. The weather was warm, the company worthwhile, the sites glorious and the Fijians doing all they could to go out of their way to make your stay the best you'll ever have.

The Fijian people are just gorgeous. We stopped counting the amount of times people came up to Sophie to sniff her and touch her skin, pick her up and just play and toy with her. She was such a major flirt towards the end! Kobe too didn't miss out - the Fijians adore children. Our kids were very much spoilt and pampered.

Kobe had a great time at the Kid's club (Little Chiefs). He even managed to win a prize (a shirt) playing musical chairs on one of the games nights. He got to go on a boat trip, sugar train ride, frog and crab hunting (and racing), films, new friends and lots and lots of swimming.

Sophie began our holiday with a fear of the water and wouldn't go into the pool. By the end of our holiday you couldn't get her out. She bum shuffled around the shallows creating ripples wherever she went. She too enjoyed the sugar cane ride and waving to all the passers by and the fresh fruit - especially watermelon and pineapple.

As Sophie is still on 2 naps a day - Gary and Susan took shifts (we caught a little nap each time ourselves ;) We thoroughly enjoyed eating out each night (the food was delicious and lots of varities). Kobe discovered his love for prawns! We too enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and time in the pool and on the beach. Susan sipped on a Pinacolada as a treat and promise to a friend! We both went snorkelling which was thoroughly enjoyable. The fish actually swam around your feet in the shallows and you only needed to go out 5 metres to enjoy the reef and varying types of fish. We also enjoyed several walks, our trip through the villages on the sugar cane train, and time out as a family. We had a bit of an experience at the markets - but thankfully came out unscathed but with a few less dollars! Each day the Fijians put on a cultural show and even at breakfast we were serenaded by their beautiful voices. We totally fell in love with the Fijian people.

Here are just a few photos capturing our time in Fiji. Including the view from our room. Even Kobe and Sophie's bed toys were pampered. Housekeeping would do up the room each day and leave frangipani's in the puppies ears. The kids were thrilled!

We hope to visit again one day and have already decided to start saving! We dreamed of going last year to Fiji and we did it (well thanks to Gary changing jobs and getting a nice handy payout!), but still if you've got something to aim to and something you desire to do - you can certainly do it if you put your mind and heart to it! So our dream is to return again in 2 or 3 years! Donations welcome ;)

Here are just a few more final photos as we were given our farewell serenade, at the Nadi airport and Sophie being cheeky. Hope you enjoyed reading about our holiday....