New Zealand-Day 1

This past week our family took a quick trip to New Zealand. We had some frequent flier miles that were about to expire in a few weeks, and the only places we could go for the low number of miles we had were New Zealand, Thailand, or Fiji (all just a couple hours from Sydney). Thailand and Fiji were booked out so we ended up in New Zealand.

I have to admit, out of the three New Zealand was my last pick. I mean seriously if you had to pick either a cold rainy island that is more expensive than Sydney or riding the elephants and getting massages for $5.00 (Thailand) which would you pick? Then I remembered the tickets were free and All THREE places are on my to-do list so I should just start ticking them away! We got away with a 5 day weekend due to the Melbourne Cup (big horse races and a public holiday in Victoria (where Stan is currently working with a client). Stan took Friday and Monday off and Tuesday was a public holiday. It worked out perfect and we got everything in that we wanted to see.

There were so many places and activities I decided to blog this trip day by day (which is unusual for me as I tend to sum things up in one big post). It should be noted that our 6 day trip was only spent in the north island of New Zealand. On our first day we flew into Auckland and then headed down south to Waitomo (In Maouri Wai = water and Tomo = cave, so it means where the water meets the cave. These caves are famous for glow worms and the cave tours are done on a big canoe. The tour lasted about an hour and when we finished going through the cave we came out onto the most beautiful patch of jungle I have ever seen. Everything was so tropical even though it was a colder climate, I was really amazed!

Grabbing ice cream before the boat ride. Unfortunately we couldn't take any picture of the glow worms so I had to snag some online

Above is the internet picture--and this does not even do it justice.

Mary and Stan just off of the boat!

After the Glowworm cave we ventured down to some more caverns just to see the stalactites and stalagmites. The girls were pretty fascinated and also creeped out by just how dark, wet and deep some of these caverns go.

Getting ready to get into more caves

I love this family shot!

Mary holding a piece of a stalagtite

After caving and lunch we got back in the car and headed east towards a town called Taupo. It has three active volcanoes and a beautiful city built on a lake, The main reason tourist stop here is because this town is famous for New Zealands best 1 day hike (which also ranks top 10 for best 1 day hikes in the world). The hike is 18 miles long and takes you past all three volcanoes, to an emerald lake, over snow and through jungle. It was where most of the movie 'Lord of The Rings 1' was filmed and Mount Doom (from the movie) is also one of the three volcanoes. We came to this town to sleep over and to do the hike the next day.

Once in Taupo, we spent the rest of the afternoon hiking to see some waterfalls and then eating yummy food at a cafe overlooking the lake.

Hiking the waterfall- the water was SO BLUE--note this is not a saturated picture, it was actually that BLUE! They yellow plant does help bring it out! :-)

See mount doom over the water? It is hard to see with the clouds but it is there.

And I thought this trash can was cool--beautiful Maori art work!

It should be noted that less than a week previously New Zealand had just won the Rugby World Cup. There were people, cars, and businesses wearing the All Blacks (name of their rugby team) colors and Jersey symbols--everywhere! There was so much energy and pride buzzing in the air...I almost tried to figure out how to play rugby! I am a huge fan of the NZ rugby team now...sorry Australia, you just never won my heart--GO KIWI'S! Anyway, while eating at this cafe I made a bet with Stan that every 10 cars that passed one would be waving the All Blacks flag...I got to 9 once, but usually it was about every three cars- seriously it was crazy!

Olivia's Medical Update!

This week we spent quite a bit of time at the hospital or the doctors office. A while back we were referred to a pediatric endocrinologist (children's doctors who examine failure to thrive) it was a three month wait to see this lady, and we finally got in. The doctor met with Olivia and I for about an hour and then ordered some tests at the hospital to see if we can figure out why Olivia is so small. Especially in relation to her other two siblings (both in the 75th percentile of growth).

• We did chromosome testing--so looking at Olivia's DNA to see if there is something genetically programming her to be small (like if you are meant to be a dwarf etc..). It came back fine.
• We did an allergy test to see if her failure to thrive was the result of some kind of food or pollen or whatever...she came back clean.
• We did her third Celiac test (one positive and one negative so far....got a second negative, so we are putting that hypothesis to rest).
• We did a lumbar scan (on her back spine) to see if there was something off contributing her her constipation...still can't figure out the "cause" of Olivia's constipation/ inability to correctly digest food. Which is probably contributing to her overall growth. Her lumbar scan came back fine.
• Last of all we did a bone density scan- to figure out what age her body has developed too and then compare it to what age she actually is. She came back with a bone density scan of a 6 year old (and she just turned 8) so she is two years behind in growth....which I knew because I HAVE a 6 year old and they are the same size :-)

Next we talked about options. Now that Olivia has made it onto the growth charts (3rd percentile) she no longer qualifies for growth hormone shots. Usually you give these before a child has her period because once she has her period her bones will fuse together and she will no longer continue to grow.

The other option we discussed was giving her a hormone to delay her period so she has more time to grow. They said because Olivia is at the bone age of a 6 year old, she should experience menses two years after her peers. They said it would probably be around 15-16 year old. IF she makes it that long, the maximum height she will be is 5'3"....which is what I reached at 11 years old (when I had my period). This sounds good to me except menses is somewhat hereditary, and since I had my period at 11 years old, if Olivia were to do that she would be under 5 feet tall.

The plan would be to take Olivia's blood every 6 months, and once she is about to have her period introduce this hormone to postpone it so she has longer to grow. It sounded fine to me, until I met someone who had it done and once their period was postponed it just never started....which for my friend means she can't have kids....this girl had stuff done in the 80's when they were still experimenting with it. BUT I am wondering which option is worse

(1) Possibly be under 5' your whole life--If your parents choose to let nature take its course.

(2) Be shorter than your peers your whole adolescence and then have your period delayed for a few years.....So you can reach 5'3" ....Your still in a training bra when your learning to drive... and might not ever get your period...or be able to have kids.

(3) Try to find a doctor who will give you a hormone shot NOW so you can catch up to everyone, and develop normally with everyone else.

We do have one question about growth hormone shots; When they said we don't qualify we are wondering if this means we can still pay for them as this country has socialized medicine and a lot of medical help is around qualifying. If we pay out of pocket (insurance wont cover it if you don't qualify) it would be about $1,000/ shot and the shots are needed once a week :) In addition, we hardly know anything about the risks or side effects of growth hormone shots so it is hard to make a decision when we can't get info about etc...

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

Olivia's 8 year old Photo shoot!

Happy Birthday Olivia, 8 years old is SO BIG! Don't grow up too fast! We love you so much, you are beautiful!

Sand Angels

Happy Birthday Olivia, we LOVE you so much!1

Happy Birthday Olivia- 8 years old!

This year for Olivia's birthday we had a reverse surprise party. Basically instead of the birthday girl being surprised we instead surprised all her guests. Saturday morning we woke up all the kids with a video camera starting at 6:00am and told them in was Olivia's birthday and to help us wake up the other party guests and get in the car. We picked up all the girls in the class (12) and then took everyone to our house for games, breakfast, and to watch re-runs of everyone waking up! It was hilarious!!

Olivia had been up since 5:30am so she was wired!

Playing pin the tale on the donkey!

Blowing out the candles

Olivia is such a HAM!

In addition to her party, while we were in Melbouren on Olivia's actual birthday, Olivia got her ears pierced. We made her wait until she was 8 and then said she could decide for herself. She had been waiting for close to 2 years and has asked me every day while getting ready for school "how much longer until I can have earrings?" or say something like "don't you think my outfit would be complete with earrings?"

Getting ready!

After walking around Melbourne for an hour we finally found a place that could pierce her ears.

Cleaning

The dot!

And DONE! They did both ears at the same time and she didn't move an inch! What a brave girl!

Next door was Diva (Mary picked out some earrings for her, as did I and Stan!)

So grown up!! Happy Birthday Olivia- We love you so much!

Holiday in Melbourne--Part 2

Our second week in Melbourne we were back at the Westin.

The hotel was tucked into the street (I like how fancy the alleyway was...although my kids were freaked out by the naked people up top...)

This time our view was on the other side of the Cathedral overlooking Federation Square!

Swimming in the pool at the hotel. We went every day!

Here we are looking at the National Opal Museum. I learned that 80% of the worlds opals come from Australia. White opals are found both outside and inside of Australia, but black opals are unique to Australia. I also learned how to tell if an opal is fake and what makes an opal rare!

Here is opal in a rock

Here we are in an alleyway in the city! Melbourne is famous for its street art. Something I learned that is unique to Melbourne is that all the street performers have to audition and get a license to preform. Only a limited number of performers are allowed, so you quite often get older well dressed men playing their violins instead of grunge people rocking out on a drum set. It makes for a very artsy experience!

Although heavily tagged the alleyway was extremely CLEAN!? Appreciate art of all kinds right?

And next to the alley way--a bunch of posh boutiques!

Getting some ice cream on Olivia's birthday!

Notice anything new? Happy Birthday Olivia!

Hanging out in Williamstown (a suburb 15 minutes outside of Melbourne) with some friends from my high school- Candace & Wes Anderson

The local botanical gardens

Here we are looking at the biggest stain glass ceiling in Australia.

After two weeks, we flew back to Sydney for (1) Olivia's birthday party on Saturday and (2) School on Monday! Good bye Melbourne!!