Our wonderful aga

I haven't blogged for so long as life has been on a very even keel for us.
Lily had her hearing aid appointment at 9am on Monday and over the weekend I began to realise how difficult it would be for me to get her there in time while getting the others off to school. After explaining this to Paul, it was his idea (well almost) that she come into the hospital with him at 8am and he would then take her to the appointment and phone me if it was taking too long. Anyway it all went well, I got to have a lovely walk by the river while Paul sat through hearing tests with Lily. The hospital has quoted $1,600 for computer type aids (a lot better than the $4,600 we were quoted by the private service) and think they may be a big help for Lily's mild to moderate (not severe as originally thought) hearing loss.
I had a good ENT appointment today with Noah too. We've been putting in ear drops regularly since the last appointment and the wax was soft enough to be sucked out today. They were a bit silly telling Noah it wouldn't hurt when it obviously did - but he lay there so bravely saying "It is sore. Stop please doctor" The doctor obviously had no idea that children with Down syndrome could hold conversations and never talked to Noah directly. He just said to me things like "Please tell him to lie still"
Noah got the 'proud of you' plate at tea time (this is a specially decorated plate that just come out when the kids have been brave or got certificates at school) - this led to a bit of silliness from J who didn't want to be the only one at the table eating off a children's plate but once she realised her food would only be served onto a children's plate she soon gave way.

But my post was going to be about our aga. We are falling in love with it more each day, as it turns me into a great cook and does the ironing for me. I am learning how to start things off in one place (eg. bring rice to the boil on the boiling plate) then move them to somewhere cooler (eg put whole saucepan of rice into simmering oven and leave for 20 minutes while you bath the kids). Each evening we put one cup of whole oats and four of water into the simmering oven and have lovely creamy aga porridge for breakfast.
Our home group met at our house for the first time last night and one man came in and immediately recognised the aga (not common in NZ) and said how he longed for one. Another woman asked if she could take a photo to send to her friend. They both then sat and read my aga cookbooks during coffee time. I felt quite proud and maternal towards the aga!!