Chainsaw Massacre Part 2

So I still am cross at the big idiot that lives at my house! He is still so banned from any power tools unless he is at work where he can get workers comp! And he huffed and puffed when I chose home handy man insurance instead of extra cover for my jewellery!

 Any way it is healing well. He had the stitches out during the week but he still need steri-strips over it because lets face it that thumb is like a sizzling sausage ready to burst its skin at any time!

 Nath wasn't aware that he had cut through to his nail until he took the bandages off. I told him I was well aware that he had because I had watched the doctor open and close the wound from where I was on the opposite side of his hand!

 I have joked with him that he could now get work with ASIO as his thumb print is not the same as it was two weeks ago! And he is going to have the ugliest thumb for the rest of his life. However, I am hugely grateful because this really could have been worse. A guy told Nathan the other day the the average chainsaw injury requires 110 stitches!

Hudson

We now have  a new dog called Hudson. He is a Hungarian Vizsla! He comes from Qld and used to belong to great friends of ours who were finding it hard to have two dogs and two toddlers in one house. So he flew from Brissy to become a Rickard boy! From reading the emails that Kylie had sent me before he arrived I was fairly certain he was going to fit right in!

The boys are following the instructions to the letter. I have gone through 1 kg of carrots (although it really is a case of one for Hudson and one for me deal, they all love carrots!) Matthew is developing empathy, as he felt for Hudson moving from his old family so he gave him a pair of his socks to comfort him. Huddy is partial to a chew on smaller sized socks! However, turns out he now prefers the cream filled inserts from my wonder bra!

Nathan took this picture right after he arrived. It seems Hudson was unhappy with the bedding arrangements!

 He much prefers this arrangement where his heated bed mat is underneath the soft cushiony pillow. And we discovered after he spent his first few nights on our lounge that he likes his bed to have sides to lean against.

This is the boys meeting Hudson. They were at swimming when Hudson arrived and they had been jumping out of their skin in eager anticipation of having a new dog! They were quite surprised by his size and enthusiasm!

 They are all still getting to know each other and I have been training the boys! They now know that Huddy will be super excited when they get home and he tends to jump (quite a funny sight as he is rather large and gangly!) however now their hands go straight in their pockets and they turn their backs and he stops as he isn't getting the reaction he wants!

Matthew is quite keen to do some training with him. You often find them both out in the back yard with Matthew's pockets full of treats drilling Hudson to "Sit!"

 We are well on the way to bonding! Hudson is quite keen on the bedtime ritual of story books. He would be keener if I let him in the bed like the other kids are allowed!

 The test of a true Rickard boy is the ability to get into the fort and as you can see Huddy passed with flying colours! I do still need to capture on video the un-co-ness that is his ascent up the stairs! He has however been banned from playing hide and seek as he is always giving away where the hidee is! And when he is made seeker he sits down and is unwilling to find them!

Hudson had us all in stitches when the neighbours came to meet him.We think he may have gotten a fright and this is where he ended up......

 The other thing we have discovered is he is super protective of me! He didn't like our friends dog running towards me at the park and would do anything to get between me and the other dog!

 I found his approach to his Kong funny! First of all he holds it with his front paws....

 then turns his head upside down and uses his super long tongue to get right inside....

 Mmmmmmm treats!

So Butler family thank you for giving us Hudson! We love him to bits already. I still haven't figured out the halti! But i plan on passing it over to the engineer to figure out tonight! He loved the walk up the mountain and I loved walking him. I couldn't believe ti when he step right over a mandarin today. If that was Barkley he would have ripped off my arm to get to it and i couldn't have pulled him away from it until he was done! So I am really happy to have a good walker! He is missing you guys and fretting a little, mostly when we are not home. But it is still early days. Oh! Our neighbours daughter thinks the throwing up is from the grass! Because he apparently threw up today after choking on a piece that was too long! So I guess Nathan will be weeding this weekend....with out the chainsaw!

My name is Ben....

Today at football Ben got lost. Over dinner we were discussing the things he did right and the things he could have done differently. I asked if he told the lady who found him his name, he replied with "Yes, It's Ben." I then asked what his second name was. He replied with "Jamin!"

Chainsaw Massacre

So today Nathan decided to cut down the Photinia trees we have been wanting to get rid of for a while. Near the end I went out to check how he was going and we had a giggle about my Dad having his finger cut off with a chainsaw recently. Fast forward ten minutes and Nathan sneaks inside. He apparently tried to get himself a bandaid and when he realised he couldn't do it himself asked me to get him one. Instantly I realised what he had done and was pretty sure a bandaid wasn't going to cut it. Now being very well aware that my husband does NOT do well with blood I told him to sit down while I went out to get the first aid kit from the car because it is better prepared for major accidents. (The one inside mostly contains Simpson bandaids and kisses!) Anyway, one glance at his wound told me that stitches would be needed. At about this time Nathan started heaving so i got him a bucket and I stomped off to get help! Not only did i need to arrange for someone to mind the boys, I had to inform all of our AFL teams that not only would their coach not be there but neither would the manager and three of their players! Whilst I was doing this Jose our awesome neighbour carted Nathan off to hospital with him heaving the whole way!

After dropping off gear I made my way to the hospital to find out that yes, Nathan definitely needed stitches. So about three hours, 4 stitches and some IV antibiotics Nathan looked like this....

 I wont get into the gruesome details but let me tell you that Dr was NOT gentle cleaning out the wound, numbing the wound or sewing it up! Nathan heaved during most of the procedure. After the second stitch i realised that one side of the wound had not been numbed and asked Nathan if it was hurting. Turns out it was! Serves himself right, I say!

 So he now has himself an awesome sausage cover over his thumb and it giving everyone the thumbs up! It has also become amazingly apparent how bizarre Nathan thumbs really are!

 When we got home the boys were rather concerned and frightened about their Dad. So much so that Ben wanted his own sore thumb so Nathan drew some stitches and I covered them with a wiggles bandaid!

 So with all the drama of almost sawing off  his thumb we failed to get a good shot of how it looked like so I prepared this demonstration at dinner! It really is an excellent resemblance of his thumb before surgery!

And this is the glove that was supposedly protecting his hands! It is rather strange that the tear is in the front of the glove yet the damage is to the fleshy part and top of the nail on his thumb.

The cost of raising children

I have never quibbled over the cost of raising children. I remember being asked as a young mum "How expensive is it have babies?" Well I never found it expensive. I breastfed, we used the same cot, stroller and highchair and the boys all wore the same clothes (The benefit of having them all so close together was the clothes were all still in fashion!) And they ate a hell of a lot less than they do now! I guess the real monetary costs were not noticed because benefits of our children were more important. Until......
I get the notes home today for school photos! $93 for school photos! They better bloody well be airbrushed! And those kids better look like Brad Pitt!