Ups and downs post treatment

So another month has flown by and it has been a mixture of ups and downs.

a cold beer on a sunny winter's day at the Opera house bar Sydney

I had a wonderful weekend in Sydney for my friend's 40th birthday however I developed the most annoying tickley cough which kept me awake at night for more than 2 weeks. Of course I then passed it on to the kids so tempers have been frayed and Celia in particular has been very down and teary.

Mabel and her potty support crew (who also want fed sweeties!)

This has actually been going on for a few months and it has become apparent that there are also school playground issues plus anxiety problems. Andy and I were so focused on getting her to the end of treatment that we naively thought we'd get our happy-go-lucky 4 year old Celia back as soon as chemo stopped but it has actually been like she's on steroids for the past few months she has been so moody and volatile. I guess you cannot underestimate the psychological effects of cancer on a child even after treatment so I think we may need to take her to a therapist as her worries are keeping her awake at night.

Mabel started potty training this week and true to form the stubborn little madam wouldn't look at a pair of pants and screamed blue murder if we tried to take her nappy off. As she is a sweet fiend I knew that sweetie bribery would work and of course now we can't get her away from the potty - she wants to go every 5 minutes as she knows there's a treat at the end of it!
 Socially it has been a quiet month since I got back from Sydney which suits me fine as I really need to ramp up my half marathon training (its on the 23rd August). It has been very wintery in Melbourne the past few weeks so it's actually been a struggle to get motivated and run 18kms in freezing winds, But I am raising money for the Leukemia foundation so it will of course all be worth it.
Celia continues to have her monthly check ups and blood tests and so far so good.
Next on the agenda is our Citizenship ceremony on 12th August and then sometime in September an operation should be scheduled for Celia's port to be removed - hopefully her last general anesthetic for a long time!
  

Celia's Make-A-Wish trip

Skiing!

 What a perfect way to celebrate Celia finishing treatment! By coincidence, Celia's Make-A-Wish trip to the snow was scheduled for the end of June and it turned out to be prefect timing weather wise too. Although it was the opening week of the season in Queenstown, the snow conditions were perfect so we had 4 wonderful days at Coronet Peak. Andy and I got time to ski on our own while Celia and Max had private lessons in the morning and Mabel went to creche at Skiwiland (cute!)

Coffee break time after a hard morning in ski lessons

We also managed to catch up with Andy's old uni friend Julie Brown and her family who are lucky enough to live outside Queenstown. They and their children are of course all top rate skiers so I should have known better than to accompany them on a little tour of the mountain - 2 black runs, an impromptu off piste detour and numerous tumbles later, I was shaking with fear and anger as I had made it quite clear I was not confident or experienced enough to keep up with them. Anyway, all was forgiven after a well earned mulled wine!

clinging on for dear life

We were there for a week so we had plenty of time to sight-see too. We took the cable car up to where they have the luge track, a round of mini golf was fitted in and we found a rope swing which even mummy had a go on (I didn't fall in much to everyone's disappointment).
Andy took Max on the Shotover jet boat which they (Andy) enjoyed - he claimed it was for Max's birthday but what 5 year old claims to want a breakneck speed boat ride through a narrow canyon as his birthday present?!

Max and Andy on the chairlift to the luge

Julie sorted us out with one of her regular babysitters so we manged to have a night out with her and her husband Julian. We had an amazing meal (and cocktail) at Madam Woo followed by drinks at a bar with yet another roaring open fire - every pub, restaurant and hotel has a fire that would make Mr Kerr Senior jealous! It was a bit of a blast from the past for Andy as he remembered it was the same bar that he spent his 30th birthday in - small world!

Beautiful Queenstown

The final part of Celia's wish was ice skating and I think she actually enjoyed that more than the skiing. They had little penguins to help them balance on the ice and Mabel sat on a push along seal which I of course couldn't let go of!

We are so grateful to Make-a-wish as it really was the holiday of a lifetime. When we requested a trip to the snow as Celia's wish, we thought we'd be sent to Mount Buller, 4 hours drive away, for a long weekend. We never imagined they would fly the 5 of us to New Zealand for a week and arrange skiing, ice skating, hotel, transfers, the lot - amazing!

Ice skating with the penguins

And as if that wasn't enough gallivanting for 1 week, I then flew to Sydney with 7 girlfriends on Friday for my friend Andrea's 40th birthday.
It has been a long time since I took 4 flights within a fortnight and I can safely say I am now well and truly exhausted, but in a good way!