Love, bubs and life on our little farm

So I have had a flurry of medical appointments for Bronte in the last two days. Its all pretty serious now, as in she now has the tag of permanent hearing loss and we are waiting for the appointment to get hearing aids fitted. I am all OK with it until I think about my little one's sweet baby head marred with ugly plastic pieces of electronics and then I get a little wobbly. I know I haven't processed it all properly as I tend to push it all deep down and move on. I am just determined to do the best by Bronte and I am glad that we are well off and in a position to make the most of private specialists etc. My mantra is "give me the strength to accept what I cannot change.."

I am also so appreciative of the amazing support that I have received from other Mums - I must say that Mums who have been through the rollercoaster of having a little one diagnosed with a problem are just wonderful at giving advice and offering up their experiences.

I am a bit tense at the moment, I am finding Elka to be quite a handful this week. She is very bright and I am finding that I am dealing with a whole different level of misbehaviour to most other Mums with two year olds. Most people are a little taken back when I describe Elka's defiance and ways of avoiding/defusing punishments for her deliberate acting out. Most of my friends 2yr olds simply have a tantrum and then move on with life. She loves getting in trouble and enjoys punishments such as time out and having her toys taken away - she will tell me she is going to "be naughty" so that she can get in "trouble". Even my best sources of advice including my Mum have no suggestions left with how to best deal with Elka currently. I am just focusing on rewarding her positive behaviour and trying to go with the flow. With Bronte doing mulitple nightfeeds again and the tradies starting work at 6am, I am finding that I am exhausted before I begin the day which doesn't help my patience. I am very much looking forward to going back to work!

I am starting to get a little claustrophobic with the building site too - I long to have my front yard back and to be able to walk from my car to my front door, rather than parking in a paddock and carrying a baby in capsule and a whinging toddler (who also insists on being carried - I don't need a gym!) around to the back of my house. There are large amounts of tradies at the work site at the moment - great for progress but not so great for privacy and quiet.

We have also been dealing with this kind of weather:


But despite the rain, having the roof on and the fact that our entire extension is surrounded by large wrap around verandahs has meant that we can get a lot of work still done. We now have the electrical wires all done, the gyprock all up and patched inside for the walls and ceilings, the cavities for the sliding doors done, the inserts above the windows done, the bricks almost all up and the battens for the ceilings on the decks and verandahs started. The ensuite waterproofing should be done soon and then the tiling. Definitely on the home stretch now!