Hiya! It’s Mister C, now nine and Me…

Well, hello… How nice is it (mainly for me I have to add) to be able to just write about current events and stories (present time) in our blog? After over one hundred and seven blogs (wow!), I can now write, that we have come full circle from 2012 to present day. Thanks to all for your patience and for your continued support with reading our blogs. I hope this next chapter will continue to warm your heart and give you something new to ponder about, while also give you a few giggles along the way (and I promise not to write so much this time too)…

As Mister C often says, “C’mon, Mummy; let’s get going!”…

Don’t we love the (cool wet) rain; but over the past few weeks, we have had so much of it (too much of a good thing?). The last rain-water reading from our gauge sitting on the side of the chook shed (was a bit dirty too), had reached just above seventy-five mls; I checked it again this morning, tipping out over twenty-five mls. Our veggie patch, garden and lawns are growing a bit crazy and now Husband will have to get on ‘Bumble-Bee’ (our not so new ride on mower) to clean up the area, before it really gets out of control (thanks Husband). Our hearts go out to all the regional farmers, who have just lost what they expected to be their bumper crops; words cannot express how you must be feeling right now… I must mention, it has been a very up and down kind of week for us too; happy times with Mister C turning the big nine on Sunday (so proud of you my zany red-headed son), our fourth book published on Monday, our heart-warming book event (part one) at our local library on Tuesday (this morning), but we unfortunately lost our sweet dear budgie ‘Pearly’ early this morning as well (it was hard moving forward- I can tell you)… Husband commented, “I took Mister C to our ‘Pearly’s’ cage early in the morning to make sure he was OK, but immediately knew I had to disguise the fact that birdy had probably already passed.”

So, our zany boy (marred by some pet loss sadness) has finally turned the big nine! Mister C has been counting down the days for several months now, and it was a relief (but wonderful at the same time) for the milestone day to arrive. As I may have mentioned in a previous blog, Husband and Mister C were meant to travel up to QLD for Mister C’s birthday, as a treat. Naturally they couldn’t go, so we arranged Mister C and Dad to pop down to ACT to spend the night at his grandparents house (hiya M & J- thanks for having the boys!), for tacos, a spa bath and to visit the brand new Lego store in the City (sounds so great). Well I can report, Mister C and Dad had a great time, and Mister C proudly came home, carrying his new birthday big ‘Lego’ box and ‘Lego’ creations, that he had almost fully put together. Flossy had made red cupcakes (Mister C’s favourite) and wrapped a few gifts (thanks so much dear girl); I raced home from work and also picked Widy up from her casual work and we commenced a small family party for Mister C, with small snacks, cupcakes, a few gifts and several games of ‘Uno’ (Mister C’s favourite). Husband noticed ‘Pearly’ was still outside at around 6pm (not dark yet) and brought him in and put the cage on the black stand (as we always did). I looked over and noticed Peary was shivering at the bottom of the cage, I jumped up and my heart began to pound with worry…

Sadly, our poor sweet ‘Pearly’ lost his beak (bill) Sunday evening, in the midst of Mister C’s little home birthday party. We were not really sure how it happened; my guess is, it was the nasty big (and hungry) black currawong bird, that has been hanging around (like a bad smell) over the past week or so. Our magpie family have been diligently chasing it away from the patio and chook area (and from their new twins), but sadly, we think the currawong tried (very hard) to pull ‘Pearly’ out of his cage, his beak and foot sadly were damaged from ‘Pearly’ fighting back (he did put up a very good fight might I add). We were in such a shock seeing his poor little birdy face with no beak and some blood spots everywhere (so sad). I won’t gore you out from the details, but it was not pretty. I quickly scooped the little bird up and nursed him for several hours. He was in shock (of course), but I cleaned his face and gave him some water via a syringe (good to be a nurse?) and he did settle. Husband commented, “I discouraged Mister C from exacting some form of revenge on the naughty Currawongs, that were believed to have caused our bird’s injury.”

We had mostly finished the afternoon tea party with Mister C, and the family, having already opened his remaining gifts and had spoken with his favourite Aunty in Sydney. Husband had ordered Mister C’s favourite meat-balls from a local pizza place and the delivery was on its way. We were all in shock over the accident, and I don’t recall having any pizza that night. Mister C was particularly sad, shedding a tear (like me) saying, “It wasn’t such a great party after all, Mummy; but I am now nine and can understand better- it’s okay, ‘Pearly’ needs you now.” I was so proud of Mister C for acknowledging this and for not putting all of his needs above others (he did after all have lots of fun at Granny’s place).

It was a long night of wait and see, with poor ‘Pearly’; not thinking he would make it through the night. I got up at around 5am and checked on him and he was surprisingly doing okay. I spent most of the next day caring for the little bird, feeding him water and a mushy mill worm powder mix. Husband went to the shops to get a few groceries and came back with a sweet potato (heard it was delicious to birds), I then diligently cooked up a small batch (memories of when the kids were babies really) and fed some of the cooled mixture to ‘Pearly’. Sadly, early the next morning he succumbed to his fateful injuries (not really sure what happened-his little heart must have given way). Again, Mister C and I shed a few tears together, we had to regain ourselves and get ready for the book event, that was booked later on in the morning (could we do it?). Mister C was sad, I gave him a few Mummy hugs (Dad too); we took a few deep breaths in the car on our way to the library (always works) and we made it through our day. As a reward, Mister C wanted to get six chicken nuggets and sit in the nearby park afterwards (it was lovely); the clouds did move a little so we could see a smidge of blue sky and you know, it wasn’t raining at that point either…

A word from Mister C…

Husband had booked flights to go to QLD with Mister C for his birthday, to see his Bro (Uncle) and family together. Mister C wasn’t able to go with Dad last year, and had arranged a surprise for him to go this time instead. Sadly, now due to the ongoing border restrictions, Husband and Mister C couldn’t go… Luckily, Husband was able to rebook the flights to go before Christmas in the school hols. Mister C was naturally sad about not being able to go and said, “Curse the lockdowns, Mummy! Can I go to Granny’s place with Dad, instead?” … “Of course, my son,” I said (relieved he wanted to do something else). “What would you like to do there?” I then said, giving him a big hug. Mister C grinned and replied, “Well, I want to stay overnight with Dad, eat ‘tacos’, get a new ‘Ninja Lego’ and have a very long and high, bubbly spa bath instead, please?” …🤗

Stay tuned…

For more current stories from the end of 2021 and beyond! Me and Mister C just wanted to thank our library event organiser (thanks M.H!) and all the wonderful children and their parents who attended our local (wonderful) library for our book event today; thank-you so very much for having us- we had such a great time! My heart was filled with such joy reading our first two books with you all; Mister C loved helping with the craft and making his own red bus to keep too. We look forward to joining the next group on Thursday as well. This is why I originally started writing ‘real life’ children’s books, to share our stories with children and parents everywhere… 🌈