Beyond the Edge of Adventure

I am at home. Waiting for Ben to finish work. It struck me today how much my life has changed since he joined the QAS exactly 6 years ago. It's been really, really hard work to adjust to his job - probably more for me than him (having a young family hasn't helped!). It got me thinking about what I wish I'd known back then what I know now. So here are my tips for wives who have shift working husbands and young families! 1) The first thing my man said about his job was "There are no guarantees". When he said that, I felt like weeping - I'm an organised person and a creature of habit. This meant that he could be home at 5:30pm, 8pm or midnight any day of the week. It's true - so never, ever expect him to be home on time. Sometimes he will be home on time and on those days you get a nice surprise! But on the days he is late, you won't be disappointed because you're not expecting him on time. 2) Carry on with what the family's doing and incl...

......today was an AWESOME! That's what I love about God! We have always found that when you're having a rough time, God sends a few easy or pretty wonderful days in the mix to give you a  bit of a boost. We found it all last year through our move from Roma to Oakey with a sleepless baby and three young children! Today we were together as a family all day......that's always a great start to a fantastic day. We watched our children and their friends run in the athletics carnival, then went shopping for camping gear and other bits and pieces. Got home exhausted, but managed a nice dinner and dessert. Got an appointment tomorrow to get my diet stuff sorted! Full belly, full heart, heavy eyes. Life is good (or at least looking better than it did this time last night!).

Well, I think I can officially call today a challenging day. My dietary issues have been playing up big time. One of my favourite hobbies -eating- has been pretty much destroyed by my body having a reaction to most things I eat. I can't figure out what's wrong and it's SO frustrating! Today I ate allergy-free museli with rice milk, a banana, rice with (good) leg ham, cooked mushrooms and leftover roast beef with veggies. No gluten. No dairy. No sugar. No nuts. No preservatives (or very, very little). And I still spent most of the day feeling bloated, slightly nauseated, refluxy, tired and blowing my nose. Yick........so I am booking an appointment with both a GP and a dietitian this week! I met with my midwife today and the baby is well - hooray! My iron levels are not OK, sadly. This is the first time EVER in five pregnancies that I've had low iron. So excuse me if I'm shocked for a bit because I'm NOT supermumma! My blood pressure was low...ish. My fundal he...

So, a week ago on Sunday evening, having packed my husband off for his second night shift in a row and while the children were finishing dessert and cleaning their teeth, I got a rather scary phone call. It was from Ben, who, in short, said he'd been in a car accident. After feeling my stomach sink like a cold rock had been dropped into it and my heart pouding in my ears, I managed to ask where he was, which was only 500m from our home. I hung up straight away and herded all the bewildered children into the car, ignoring their insistent questions, which started with, "Where are we going?", "Why do I need shoes on?", "Where is Daddy?", "Is Daddy OK?" and finally, "Dad's been in a car accident, hasn't he?". How did they know ? Ben was and still is OK. He's bumped, bruised and very shaken, but OK. The other driver received a slightly bumped nose and his car a wrecked tyre, a slightly smashed in front right panel and b...