Programming with Ruby

I have just completed the rubylearning.org Ruby course online.  It’s a great course and I really think I’ve learned more from this programming course than any other courses I’ve done so far.

The breakdown of the course content is paced well and builds on what you learn each week.  The course is for 7 weeks on-line which you do at your pace. If you have not completed the course within the 7 weeks there is still time at the end to catch up.  There are regular exercises and quizzes to utilize the knowledge you build.

Mentors comment and guide you with the exercises you submit to the forums.  The mentors are terrific in challenging you to think. The forums are also great for seeing how others tackled the same exercises.

I feel really inspired after this course and look forward to doing more study with RubyLearning.org.

And another thing…

In amongst everything happening with Liam I have resigned from my job of 13 years. Part time or jobshare were not options for me to continue my employment there so I chose to resign. I just couldn’t bear the thought of Liam in full time daycare at his age.

I feel very sad to be leaving as there are people who I have been friends with for years. I hope I can still see them from time to time.

Home at last

It’s been a while since the last post but there’s been a lot happening.  To start with we were informed that Liam would require surgery for his hydrocephalus before the end of August.  We were originally told it would be on August 25th and thought that we’d have a couple of weeks up our sleeve to fret. That is until we were contacted by the neurosurgeon on Sunday 16th August and told that we could get the operation done on the 18th.  That left one day to reschedule and cancel appointments since Liam would be in hospital until at least Friday.  So on Monday the 17th we headed to stay at my mum’s place in the evening so that we could be at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick early on Tuesday morning.

After much waiting around and preparation, like washing Liam’s hair with iodine, his surgery commenced around midday.  We were quite worried about our little boy, whether he would need a shunt or not and whether or not the operation would be successful. We were aware of the various risks during brain surgery and it left a big knot in my stomach.  We were sitting in the waiting area for him to be brought into recovery, and the appearance of his surgeon – Dr Erica Jacobson – was somewhat of a relief.  They finished at about 2pm which was a good sign; if the shunt was to be inserted then the operation would have taken another hour.  Ben and I went in to be with Liam when  woke up.  He was groggy and distressed when he woke, but he recognised us immediately which was a really good sign.  I fed him straight away, as he had been fasting since 2am that morning.  Eventually he was transferred to the ward.

Liam in hospital - his eyes look a little puffy after the operation

He spent the next 3 days on the ward.  They really do cater for the kids there.  We had dogs visiting, clown doctors, people with guitars singing and people who make things with balloons.  There is also a room for parents to sleep, a place where I took solace while Ben cared for Liam during the day. Liam had fevers and vomiting in the first 24 hours but settled down after that.  I was so glad to be able to breastfeed him. It was all he would keep down as well as give him comfort. We were glad to be released on the Friday and come home to familiar surroundings and our own bed.  Liam slept so well when he came home and so did I.  He was happy to be playing with his own toys and see his dogs again.

Liam is so happy to be back home

Things settled down a little for the next few days and we managed to get back into our routine.  However, we noticed on Tuesday that the wound was starting to swell and was weeping overnight.  We contacted the surgeon and sent through some photos of the wound that Ben took with his phone. She advised us to take Liam back to the emergency department in Randwick.  So on Wednesday evening we quickly threw some clothes in a bag and headed back to the hospital, quite concerned that there was fluid leaking from the wound.  She had told us it could quite possibly be brain fluid leaking and that she was worried about infection.  We were seen relatively quickly but had to wait an hour for the neurosurgical registrar to come to see Liam. We then spent 21hours in the emergency department waiting for a bed in the ward.  We were transferred late the next day.  We spent the next few days there and came home on Sunday. Liam was pretty over it by the end of his stay as it’s hard to sleep in the ward where there is so much noise and activity all of the time. He was also bored being in the cot as there’s no way he would be crawling around the hospital floors. Ben had bought a bubble machine to try to alleviate Liam’s boredom while he was stuck in hospital.  It was a hit.

Liam and nanna with bubbles.

So we settled into being at home, and went along to a mother’s group lunch on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday evening Liam started vomiting, along with the rest of the babies and mums from mother’s group. It must have been something passed on at the lunch.  We were a bit concerned after he’d been vomiting for a couple of hours as this is one of the symptoms of intracranial pressure. So at 10.30pm Wednesday night we headed for the emergency department of Gosford hospital.  They admitted us straight away since Liam had undergone surgery recently and vomiting was a sign of one of the possible complications. After the emergency doctors conferred with the neurosurgeons in Sydney, they decided to keep him in Gosford hospital for observation rather than transfer him to Sydney.

He was on IV fluids for the first 2 days but seemed to tolerate breastmilk okay so they kept it on a fairly low input.  My mum came up to help with Liam during the day – a welcome relief. When he started to show signs of diarrhea we almost rejoiced, as it meant that the vomiting wasn’t caused from his pressure in his head. They were going to send him home on Friday but then he went downhill a bit when he started vomiting again. So they decided to keep hm in for another night in case he needed more IV fluids. Mum headed back to Sydney, but I later learned that as soon as she had arrived home, she was sick with the same gastro bug.

On Friday night at about 9pm I started to feel nauseous and sure enough came down with the gastro bug with all it’s vengeance.  After spending a bit of time in the bathroom the nurses suggested I pop down the the emergency department to get something to help.  I went down to the ED where they took my name and details and said to go back up to the ward and we’ll call you when it’s your turn.  This was at about 1.30am.  I  went back up to the ward and tried to sleep for a while.  At 3.30am they called and asked me to come back down.  They gave me some Maxalon and IV fluids to rehydrate me – I must have looked pretty crook. After lying on an examination table (the closest thing they had to a bed) for half an hour while the cold IV fluids pumped into my arm, they sent me back to the ward and told me to come back in a couple of hours.  This was at about 4.30am.

In the meantime Liam had been settled back to sleep by the nurses and was still sound asleep until 5.20am.  After feeding him I headed back to the ED for the all clear.  I was told it would be best if I went home to rest.

Liam and I came home on Saturday morning.  So glad to be home once again. Ben’s mum – Maggie – has been staying with us since then.  On the first night home Ben and I needed to go to bed early as we were both really sick. Maggie managed to get Liam to sleep after neither of us had the energy to pace any more.

Father’s day has been a quiet one. It’s a house of recovery. Liam is picking up little by little. Ben and I are 100% improved on what we were yesterday.

Home at last.

A day in the park

Yesterday Ellie, Thomas, Liam and I had a morning in the park.  We thought that the weather has been so nice it would be a shame to waste it.  So after some research Ellie found a great park in North Gosford.  It was a terrific park with some great play ‘contraptions’ lovely trees and bark underfoot – which made it crawl-friendly.  Thomas was interested in climbing and crawling from one piece of play equipment to another.  It kept Ellie on her toes. He has bundles of energy.

As a follow-on from m previous post Liam was fascinated with the piece of play equipment with knobs on it.

Liam with knob

Liam was determined to try out the ‘puzzle’ on one of the pieces of equipment as well as the chimes.

Liam problem solving

Liam laughing at me through the puzzle

Liam on the chimes

The other thing Liam enjoyed was the swing.  He seemed to like to hang upside down and giglgle at me as he swung back and forth.

Liam giggling upside down in the swing

Ellie and I shared a hot cup of tea, date scones and gingernut biscuits for morning tea while the boys had mandarine, rice crackers and dried apple.  There were other parents there with their kids and all the bigger kids were pretty careful of the younger ones on the equipment.

Heading back to the car Liam was adamant that he was going to steer the stroller so standing on the nappy bag, with me supporting him, he proudly steered it to the car.  Ellie took a pic as we forged ahead (thanks Ellie).

Liam pushing stroller

Both boys had big sleeps in the afternoon – must be the fresh air.  I think we’ll try to find another park to try out next week since we had so much fun.

Knobs and Knockers

Knobs and knockers. This pretty much summarises Liam’s fixations at the moment.  He is totally fixated on door knobs.  I have to be careful even when walking past a door with him in my arms as he has been known to reach out and grab the doorknob as we go past, surprising me with a door banging me in the back.  As for the knockers…wel  that sort of speaks for itself since I’m still breastfeeding.

Update for last week

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while.  Had a busy week last week.  Tuesday was supposed to be mother’s group, but Mel kindly offered to come over and look after Liam so that I could catch up on some much-needed sleep.  Unfortunately the cleaner was here at the same time and made alot of noise, so I only managed half and hour’s sleep – which still felt like bliss.  Tuesday afternoon I took Liam for a walk as we were expecting visitors in the afternoon and wanted to make sure we had something yummy to have with a cup of tea.  When we arrived Ben mentioned that he’d had a phone call that they had cancelled their visit.  Oh well, it just meant that Ben and I had to eat all the Danishes.

Wednesday was swimming day.  Liam hasn’t been for the last 3 weeks as he’d been sick after the MRI, so I didn’t want to aggravate his chest infection. It was a lovely hot day, so it was a nice day for a swim.  We walked around to the swimming place instead of driving, so I get a bit of exercise at the same time. He seemed to enjoy being back in the pool. He always giggles when we do the hokey-pokey at the end of the class.

On Thursday morning we had friends over for morning tea, along with their new-born baby and 3 year old son. After a cuppa and some cake Liam and I had to leave. Liam and I joined Ellie and Thomas at Amaze-’n-Play at Erina.  It is a great place and seems to be set up well for little kids as well as big kids.  There is a section set aside for tiny kids like Liam and Thomas, where they have a few age-appropriate toys as well as their own ball pit.  Liam wasn’t keen on the ball pit, he just kept leaning over the side and picking out balls and putting them back in.  He went in once but didn’t appreciate all the balls moving underneath him.  Thomas on the other hand loved roll around in the pit.  He had tried it once before, so maybe Liam will be a little more enthusiastic next time. I suppose it is quite a new sensation to get used to.  Ellie and I managed to have a little lunch there too, which was nice.

Liam and I headed up to Erina fair afterwards to get a couple of birthday presents and post them off. Liam fell asleep in the car on the way home.  When I arrived home, Carlos – the mobile dog-wash guy – was already at our place and had bathed Bella.  I hung around our car waiting for Liam to wake up, which lasted for about 3/4 hour.  Meanwhile, Carlos bathed Samson – who runs away when he knows it’s bath time, but hops straight in quite happily once you catch him.

I was quite excited for Friday as mum was coming to stay so that Ben and I could go to see a movie on Saturday morning.
Ben had a meeting in Sydney on Friday, so he was gone by the time Liam and I got up on Friday morning. After breakfast we headed out for a walk to the shops, hoping that Liam would have a sleep in the stroller, which he did.  Got a call from mum at about 11 saying that she was at the railway station – as we’d organised to pick her up.  So Liam and I hopped in the car and started heading to the station.  But we only managed to get half way down the street when I lost all gears in the car.  I had enough momentum to pull over at the side of the road.  I called our mechanic, as he’s only local, and he said he’d come straight out and have a look.  Meanwhile I tried to call mum.  Her mobile has been on the blink, so I wasn’t hopeful that she’d be able to hear me.  Miracle of miracles, she answered her phone and was able to hear me.  I let her know what was happening with the car and told her to catch a cab to our place.  On her way past, she stopped just in time to rescue Liam – who was crying by this stage.  The mechanic had arrived and couldn’t do anything to fix the car. I called a tow truck and was told it would take about an hour.  Meanwhile, our next-door neighbour drove past and noticed I’d broken down.  The first thing he said was “Do you want to borrow our Commodore?”.  What great neighbours! They have an ‘extra’ car that they don’t use much.  So luckily we have use of this car until our car is fixed.

By the time the tow truck arrived it was about 12.30.  I have been taking Liam to a kinder-gym on Fridays, so was glad when I realised we were still able to make it.

So with nanna accompanying us we made our way to kinder-gym at 1.30.  Liam had heaps of fun.  They have lots of singing games and little toys they have made that encourage their gross and fine motor-skills.  After an initial singing and structured game-playing session, everyone makes their way over to the larger gym activities.  Things like trampolines, cushioned ramps where the babies can roll, jump or slide down, bars to swing from, tunnels, swings, slippery-dips and heaps more are available.  The feature photo from this post was taken by Ellie.  It’s a kind of swing for sitting or lying on.

Liam seemed to enjoy himself. He probably didn’t enjoy the part where he fell of the little car that goes up and down a little ramp.  he only cried for a minute and had another tear-free turn after that.

Saturday morning Ben and I went to the movies to see ‘Cheri’.  I think we were the youngest people in the theatre.  Must be a senior citizen’s morning on Saturdays. It was a good movie nonetheless.

Mum stayed with us until Sunday afternoon, which was great as it is a real help.  She is really great with Liam.  He doesn’t fret whenever we go out and he’s with mum.  He also seems to learn new tricks when he’s been with mum.  This time I noticed it is when he’s eating and you ask him if he’s finished what’s in his mouth – he now opens his mouth and shows you.

Will blog again soon as another big week is ahead.

Weekend gone

A relatively quiet weekend for us as Liam and I are both sick.  Liam picked up a nasty cough when he had the general anaesthetic the other day.  It resulted in us taking a trip to the Emergency department in the hospital on Thursday night where we stayed from 7.30pm until 1.30am the next morning.  They monitored him regularly, as he had an initial temperature of 38.5. He had been very sleepy and listless throughout the day so we knew something wasn’t right.  They discharged him with anti-biotics for a chest infection.  We had to maintain the panadol for another 24 hours until his fever abated.

Since then he has perked up quite a it. He still has a nasty cough, but doesn’t seem too distressed about it…until he has to sleep.  He has been very restless, sleeping up to 30 minutes and then waking, crying.  Last night wasn’t as bad, so I’m hoping tonight will improve a little more.  As I type this, I hear him crying through the monitor. Oh well…we’ll see.

In the meantime, I have also picked up the cough from Liam.  I am on the same antibiotics he’s on. Hopefully he’ll get some antibodies through my milk as my body tries to fight the bug. It’s been nice having Ben available this weekend to take Liam while I tried to catch up on some sleep.  I feel like we are a tag team sometimes.

Liam asleep on Ben

We had a visit from Holly – Ben’s sister-  and Simon – her partner – when they were on their way home from Wamberal this afternoon.  Simon had been baking brownies. Nothing quite like a cup of tea and a fresh brownie. Thanks Simon.  Holly collected some of the clothes and a pram we have been saving in preparation for the birth of Liam’s cousin (name yet to be announced).

I feel like it was a necessary restful weekend, ready for the week ahead.

An emotionally draining day

Up at 4.30am in order to feed Liam his last breastfeed before he had to fast – as he was only able to eat until 5am. I didn’t feel like I’d slept much anyway as I was worried about the day ahead and that we’d wake up at the right time. I felt just awful having to wake him from a deep sleep. He was so peaceful.

I couldn’t go back to sleep after feeding him, even though Liam managed to fall asleep in Ben’s arms until just after 6am. We were due at the hospital at 6.30am so we left home at about 6.10am. It was very cold and dark outside and Liam was rugged up like a little cuddly bear.

After checking in, we were sent up to the children’s ward where they prep him for the procedure. This involved putting patches on both of his hands to numb them for a cannula to be inserted. Fortunately Liam was still tired and fell asleep on Ben’s chest. By about 8.30am we were pretty hungry so Ben and I headed down to the snack machine for a muesli bar and a cuppa. My mum looked after Liam while we were out foraging for food. On our way back to Liam’s bed we were met by the transport nurse heading towards the MRI unit with mum and Liam in tow.

We only had a short wait in the MRI unit where a friendly radiologist discussed what was going to happen with Liam. I was feeling a bit nervous by this time but my fears were alleviated a little when the anesthetist nurse – who was just like my nanna – started paying peek-a-boo with Liam before she took him in her arms. Only one parent was able to go in with Liam, so I suggested that Ben did, as whoever went in had to hold Liam down and I didn’t think I was able to do that. We couldn’t stay with him for the whole hour of the MRI procedure, only during the initial anesthetic application.

Ben was in with him for about 20 minutes and when he came back out to the waiting area he looked quite pale. He later told me that he felt quite emotional when he had to hold Liam steady for the mask to be placed on his face.

We had about an hour to kill so we headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast.

We headed back to the MRI waiting area just after 10am when they brought Liam out. He was still really groggy and had reverted to making the most beautiful cooing noise, that he hasn’t made since he was just a few weeks old. We were taken up to the recovery ward where most of the patients were pretty drugged out as they were all post-op. Liam was very cuddly and was comfortable resting on Ben’s chest. I fed him for a little while and he seemed quite ravenous. Eventually we headed back down to the children’s ward where they checked on him for a couple of hours before he was allowed to leave. It was really hard to watch him so distressed when he was coming out of the effects of the anesthetic. He is such a resilient little guy.

Liam in hospital

They let us leave the hospital at about 1.30 this afternoon. We managed to squeeze in a visit to the special care nursery where Liam spent the first 3 weeks of his life. It was lovely to catch up with a couple of the nurses who looked after him when he was first born, and show them how much he had grown. They love to see how the babies they care for eventually grow into healthy young children. I felt a little nostalgic being in that part of the hospital even though it had been a harrowing experience there this time last year.

We headed home after visiting the nursery. Liam was so tired. He managed to get some playtime in today when he got home as well as an afternoon nap with me. Getting him to sleep has also been relatively painless tonight… so far. The night is still young.

The messages of support and love from friends and family make such a difference when you are going through a tough time. Thanks to everyone who is part of our life. We really have a wonderful network of support surrounding us.

An Unusually Large Concern

Hello, Ben here, in a guest appearance on Kaz’s new blawg.

I recently tweeted about Liam having to go in to hospital for an MRI, and a few friends commented that they didn’t know what was going on, so I thought I’d fill you all in on the backstory.

If you don’t know already, Liam was a little impatient to join us back in June of 2008, and arrived six and half weeks early (if you can’t see the photo or story at that link, just friend us on Flickr and all will be good). Since then, he’s been monitored closely by his pediatrician, who takes all of his measurements on each visit. On our first visit with the pediatrician he shared three concerns with us: 1) Liam had ankyloglossia (commonly referred to as tongue-tie); 2) he had an inguinal hernia; and 3) his head was larger than normal. I won’t got into details on the possible complications arising from the tongue-tie, or the hernia, but suffice to say, we had the hernia operated on at ten weeks, and the tongue-tie clipped at ten months. As for the unusually large head, well that’s another story.

During that appointment, I convinced the pediatrician that Liam’s large head was nothing to worry about. I let him know about the history of large heads in our family. I cited the fact that neither me nor my siblings could find hats to fit, and that my mother, her sisters, and many of my cousins, nieces and nephews all had large heads. Not convinced, he measured my head, noted down a figure, and agreed with me. Fascinated to have quantitative evidence of my super-sized-noggin, I asked him how big my head was. 63cm, he replied. Well, is that big? Given that the circumference of the average adult male head is 55cm, and 61cm is considered “unusually large”, then yes, he said, you have a big head. I quipped that it’s where I kept my unusually large brain, but the humour was lost on him and we left without further discussion.

We hadn’t put much more thought into Liam’s head circumference until a recent visit with the pediatrician. The most recent measurement saw the size of this head leap above the 97th percentile. Given that his weight and height are both below the 5th percentile, he’s quite out of proportion (I should add that he doesn’t look so to us, as far as we’re concerned he’s of perfect proportions). The pediatrician voiced his concern over Liam’s head size with us again, and suggested we take him for a brain ultrasound, just to be sure. We went for the ultrasound, not thinking much of it—ever the optimists—and it revealed that Liam had an excess of fluid in the ventricles in his brain, a conditions referred to as hyrdocephalus. Typically, your brain produces about 500ml of this fluid a day. It bathes the brain in it’s mineral-rich sugary goodness, and then drains away into the blood stream. Apparently, the upper acceptable limit of fluid is 33% of the total volume of the brain, and Liam’s is about 40%.

*sigh* And here we were thinking that our days of hospital visits would be over until he got to the bone-breaking age.

Given the results, our pediatrician suggested a further scan to find out the cause of the fluid build up. It can be caused by one of three things. An excess of fluid production, a blockage in the plumbing that drains the fluid away, or a failure of the brain to absorb the fluid back into the blood stream. Apparently it’s most likely to be a blockage, but to be a sure, an MRI is required. So today, we visited the hospital with Liam for the MRI.

MRIs aren’t really a big deal for adults, we lie still in a big shiny tube while the machine bangs, clicks, and whirs around us taking images. Sometimes for up to an hour. See the problem? Keep still? For an hour? Ever tried asking a one year old to lie completely still for an hour? Yeah… not gonna happen is it. The solution to this problem is a general anesthetic. So, this morning at 6:30am we checked in to the hospital and waited while everything was prepped. He was anesthetised at around 9am (sheesh!! ask me about that experience some time), and the scan took a little over an hour. Another couple of hours waiting around at the hospital for Liam to prove he’d overcome the effects of the anesthetic, and we were able to bring him home.

Now we wait. A couple of days for our pediatrician to get the results, and a few weeks before we can see a rocket scientist neurosurgeon to find out what course of action is required. If the pediatrician decides it can’t wait a few weeks, we should be able to see the neurosurgeon sooner. And the worst case scenario is that Liam requires a shunt, to artificially route around any blockage, and drain the excess fluid somewhere into his body that it can be dealt with appropriately. Just one more step on our journey of caring for this amazing human being.

It’s all happening at the Askins’ place

Who would have thought it would be a quiet Monday after such a busy weekend. Me.

First work of art from Liam

Ben had a 9.30 meeting this morning so we were playing tag team with Liam so that we both managed to have a shower and breakfast before Ben had to leave the house. The handyman was due to arrive to fix our retaining walls out the front of the house, a job long overdue. I had called him to see what time he was to coming, as we’d arranged 9am, but at 9.20 when he hadn’t arrived I was now encroaching on Liam’s morning sleep time and could have repurcussions for the rest of the day.  He said he’d be fine to start work without needing access to the house anyway, so with that sorted Liam had a sleep.

I’d organised a playdate with Ellie and Thomas and she too was juggling morning naps with the day’s agenda. After a bit of texting we managed to arrange a time for them to drop by. So Ellie and Thomas arrived at around 11.30ish where Ellie and I managed a chat in between keeping the boys from poking each others eyes,  ‘gently’ batting or biting each other.  Seeing them learn social skills is interesting to watch.

They stayed for lunch and not long before they left the mobile dog-wash guy, Carlos, turned up to bath Bella and Samson. As I said, it was all happening at the Askins’ house today.  The dogs seem to enjoy the bath process but I’m not sure they enjoy being blow-dried. Works for me though as we don’t have wet dogs running through the house trying to dry themselves on the carpet or furniture, or out the back rolling in the dirt.

By this time Liam was now getting tired again and due for his afternoon sleep. I think it’s funny how my day is structured around Liam’s sleep patterns at the moment but I suppose it will all change again in another couple of months. I managed to get him to sleep but only for about 20minutes. He has been waking up crying recently, sounding almost like he’s in pain. I can only assume it’s teeth.

Looking out the window now I see it’s getting overcast and Darren is only halfway through fixing the retaining walls.  I hope he’s using quick-dry cement.

This afternoon Liam tried finger painting for the first time.  Quite a messy event, but very entertaining.  He seemed to enjoy the squishy sensation of the paint, but didn’t quite grasp the concept of then putting it onto paper.  Still, he managed to do a real work of art.  It’s on the wall of the playroom drying now.  I had to put him straight into the bath afterward as he somehow managed to get it on his face too. All part of the fun.

There’s still a few hours left in today so goodness knows what could happen.  I’ll blog about it if it’s exciting.

I’m posting a pic of Liam’s first finger painting. Apologies for the picture quality as I used my mobile phone to take it.