There’s Trek, that’s the eldest one off to Iraq, there’s Trig, the youngest Down Syndrome one, then there’s Willow, and Silver and Piper. It sounds like a sled dog team! Mush! MUSH!

She hasn’t seen this photo yet, and I am eagerly awaiting her view of the decor:

More for the clucksters at Flickr

And as of yesterday, his brace is gorn, although he’ll still be monitored to make sure his hip sockets deepen properly. If they don’t he’d have to have surgery to do it in a couple of years. Sage is excited that we have a “plain baby” now. Me too.

If you have kids (and perhaps if you haven’t) you’ll know that as soon as they start moving their sleeping goes to the dogs because every time their sleep cycle lightens they urgently want to do more sitting/crawling/pulling up, etc. That would explain why I found Jethro in his cot this morning having (a) taken the light globe out of my beside lamp (b) opened a water bottle and (c) poured the water all over himself and a container of nappies under the cot. He was very pleased.

Some people – people like me – show a little more dedication:

And a better view of the hat:

The grubby beige thing in the second photo is his hip brace; the expression in the first photo is what you look like when you are rubbing your bottom tooth in the gap where your front tooth will be once it cuts through and you cease resembling The Count from Sesame Street.

Thanks to Granny for her knitting magic.   It even has a label inside that says “Made with love by Grandma”.

She (I’m guessing) would have been reasonably young.  It’s unlikely that she died of a chronic illness – in fact she was probably healthy.    It may have been a sudden thing, perhaps an accident?  It’s likely she was in hospital when she died.

She was an organ donor.  Not guessing that part.

One of my dearest and oldest friends has received the kidney transplant he’s been waiting eight years for.   I don’t just love him, I’ve always really admired him too – he is a magnificent individual.   There were tears and whoops of joy all over town as our little impromptu telephone tree spread the news.  It felt so good to make those calls.

Of course it’s only the beginning.  He’s in a lot of pain, and his mum said there were “a few effs”, benignly ignored by the nurses who couldn’t give him any more pain relief in the middle of the night.  But it is a beginning, and it is possible because of that donor’s gift.

It’s estimated that around 100 people die every year in Australia waiting for organ or tissue transplant; our donation rate is amongst the lowest in the developed world.  Every donor can save the life of up to ten other people. (source)

You can register to be an organ donor online.  Please do.