Australia Zoo and Halloween

 Levi digging out the fossils

 Lorikeet and baby wombat

 Today we had a great day.....again.  Levi had the best swimming lesson I've seen in a while.  He had a new teacher and she just seemed to really get all the kids and they all had a great lesson.  Levi is really pretty good now but he still needs some touch ups.  Then we went to Australia zoo.

I love those free tickets.  We spent a grand total of $0 and we had a full morning there digging up dinosaurs and feeding kangaroos.  We went to the show, but missed the warm up chatting.  We are getting better at that timing too.  The bird show was great this time.  The birds were all in a 5 year old mood.  They all flew around the stadium as they were supposed to and they all performed how they were supposed to, but when they were supposed to go home, none of them did.  They just wanted to be out, much to the frustration of the handlers.  It was so much fun to watch them all try to convince a flock of random unruly birds into doing what they were supposed to do rather than what they all wanted to do.  The birds won.  Even when the show was over and we all were walking out, there were the handlers, all still waiting for the birds.

Ruby over for Trick or Treating

When we got home, we had Ruby over for trick or treating.  She had dressed up as a witch and Levi was so excited to have her over.  Georgie and I worked out the logistics of the concert next week.  It will be fabulous.

Good Day

We had a good day.  Actually it was about time.  We got up early and went to Shark Bait Kids.  Levi swam less this time but I think it was because he was tired and I wasn't in the water.  Then we drove home by the customary stop at Maccas for lunch and a play in the play structure.  Levi had a blast and then we drove home.

This afternoon, Levi made a picture for Ruby as she is coming by tomorrow to trick or treat.  In USA it is a huge affair, but here I had to ask her Mum what she wanted us to give Ruby.  I think that I will get a few little things as well, to make it more like real Halloween.  Then we jumped on the trampoline and played board games and things under he went to bed.  It was a great day for me to remember how much fun a real day with a sweet boy can be.  It reminded me that laughing with a child is the best medicine for anything. 

The Good, The Bad and the Really Ugly

It was an up and down day.  Actually it has been an up and down week.  Some of it is that today, 3 years ago, Dad died.  But that is not all of it I'm sure.  Lets start with the 'good' though.

This afternoon I picked up my new vacuum cleaner that I won from Dyson.  It is this and I already love it.  I thought hard about just selling the thing on ebay but decided that a good vacuum probably didn't hurt Levi's asthma either.  We went and picked it up with the minimum of fuss.  I walked in and gave my name and they handed me a $1000 vacuum.  No check of my licence, no questions asked, just "here is your vacuum".  Then we drove home.

Then the bad.  I think that I am mad with God at the moment.  I understand many things but I will never really understand God when so many children have to suffer.  It seems that I can easily justify it, if there is no God.  I get that genetics isn't a clean or precise action.  Mistakes happen all the time and some of those mistakes are just devastating.  What I don't get is what God would gain from that.  I hate that SMA I even exists.  It sucks that families have to face this.  The other problem is, that no matter how much I try and no matter how well I can do it in public, I really just can't completely dissociate these children from mine.  I can't completely make that mother separate from me.  On top of that, while I am struggling to stay happy and stay on top of things, this is what Levi dug up to wear to bed tonight:

He found the clothes that I had put away for summer and was getting hot at night (as you can see by his hair).  He is welcome to them and I am glad to see him in them.  But ..... This is the last time I saw those PJs:

It means that at 5, Levi is now fitting into the last clothes that Frank wore.  I have been fine all along with Levi wearing Frank's things, but I hadn't realized that it would get harder as Levi aged, because the clothes would put Frank older, sicker and fatter.  It would also put my memories of those clothes, more and more charged with emotion.  I think that I am going to just have to break fairly soon and just buy new clothes for Levi.  After tonight, I think that will be soon.

 

Well, what about the 'ugly'.  It was really ugly.  I picked Levi up from school today and because his knee was 'itchy' he was unable to walk, broke down in a screaming tantrum and had to get carried to the car.  Before he was carried to the car (not by me, I might add), he lay down on the ground and dragged himself along.  I think that he is getting really tired toward the end of the week esp as we get closer to the end of the year.  I hope that our holiday is not so full on that it doesn't give him a rest.  At least he won't be having long days or stressful ones.

10 Days

10 days.  It is something that I have been thinking about today.  10 days is enough for some countries to fight wars and is long enough to 'look younger' or even 'shake the world'.  Unfortunately it can change whole lives as well.  Today I saw a little family who 10 days ago had a normal little baby; a beautiful, intelligent, interactive little boy.  He might have been a little floppy and he may have been a little behind his peers, but if they just "gave him enough time" he would catch up. 

Today they have a baby who likely won't make it to his first birthday.  Statistically the odds are against him.  It is so hard to sit back, knowing what is in the future for these families.  What have I got to offer?  What has anyone really to offer?  Oh I can do my job.  I can get him feeding well and get him positioned so he can play well.  I can do that and more, but what I think they need more than anything else, is to have someone walk beside them.  I am hoping that we can do that.  I am hoping that I can do that.  I am hoping that this family has the same kind of support they I had and our family had when we walked that same walk.  It is incredible to me how much lives can change in that week.  It is incredible how much I hurt for them.  I hope that I can make that path easier for them.  It is not an easy path, but perhaps my team can make that road smoother than it would otherwise have been.  We can't stop them hurting, but perhaps by hurting with them, it will make them feel less alone. 

Walking with Dinosaurs

Walking with Velociraptors rather!  There are dinosaur skeletons in our newspaper.  They are to be put together as a big jigsaw puzzle and we just picked ours up.  The paper is delivered here at the bottom of the hill on the other side of the causeway.  I talked to the guy who delivers them and every day he is saving our dinosaurs, because we rarely get to the Newsagent.  Today we got 9 dinosaurs.  We put together the Velociraptor.  A little too hard for Levi by himself but not for both of us. 

Tonight I also bought Levi's birthday present.  I know that I am nearly 8 months early, but it was the best option.  The big dinos are coming on tour and we are going to see them.  I got tickets for Sunday 12th June, so I imagine it will be a very busy weekend as likely his birthday party will be that Saturday. 

Sunday at the park

Levi and his mates at the skate park

Sunday, we went to the skate park again.  It is starting to get hot and Levi now sweats up a storm but he loves the skate park.  We go really early in the morning before the big kids get there and then they play until we get swamped by the teenagers.  After our kids take out the big kids a few times, I think they are really pleased to see us go.  We have been having big weekends and Levi and I are both exhausted by the end of them.  I am starting to count the days to the holiday and Levi thinks about USA all the time.  He called Robert on Sunday as well to say Hi and for the first time talked to the answering machine without my prompting him.  Who knows what he said, but it's the thought that counts!

I gave Levi a haircut after the skate park.  He was starting to look a lot like Lincoln Lewis but looked great afterward.  His hair is hard to cut now, because he spends so much time in the chlorine that his hair is getting crunchy.  It will be easier with less hair!

Man Training

Today was a typical Saturday.  We got up early and went to Shark Bait Kids.  Levi is now swimming most of the time we are there which is about 4 hours.  It must exhaust him but he just keeps going and going.  He is loving learning to use the regulator and spending time under the water.  The kids all love him and he loves them.  Pretty much win/win for everyone.  

On the way home we picked up Ty so Levi could have a friend and a bit of a play.  They were actually both pretty tired so for some of the playdate they watched "How to train your dragon".  Levi had no trouble watching it on the small screen and not in three D.  I finally saw the end of the movie that had been so ill fated for me in the past.  Initially Levi and i had gone to see the movie at the cinema, but the fire and throwing swords in 3D all proved too much for Levi.  He wanted to go home part way through the movie.  i gave him the iphone and asked if he could sit there and play (So I could watch the movie).  He didn't want to listen either as the sounds were too scary.  I finally paid attention and remembered why and for whom we were at the movie.  We left.  

About three weeks later we were in Kmart and as Levi was looking at books, I walked past a kid's book of the movie.  I thought "Fabulous, I can see how it finishes".  So I started reading.  Just as I got to the point where we had left the movie, a lady walking past had a big seizure next to me and fell on the ground.  Now I know very well that there is little I can do in this situation and in fact could have stood there and finished the book without altering her care, but I also knew just how bad it would have 'looked'.  So I stopped reading, stopped the person who wanted to put something in her mouth and got help and then resolved myself to never knowing the end of the movie.  

I went to a friend's 40th birthday party tonight and Levi was babysat by his cousin Sam.  Sam came over all happy and prepared for some 'Man Training'.  Sam needed a shave, so instead of shaving at home, he brought extra stuff and he and Levi had a shave together.  Levi had a blast ........ and then went to bed.  He is trashed! 

Turn the radio up!

There are just those days that you have to revert to one of the 'rules'.  When Frank died, I made up a whole lot of 'rules' to help me navigate the horrible first few days and the worse next ones.  It seems that on down days I seem to revert to one or more of those rules to help you make it through the day feeling like shit but still being professional at work and loving and attentive at home.  Now when I am not at work and Levi is asleep I can let my guard down a little and vent to a faceless blog.  I can look back on the day and on the week and laugh inside about my coping skills or lack of them.  I can look at the day and forgive myself for feeling like shit.  I can "Turn the Radio Up".

Right after Frank died and I had to pack up his room and drive home, I realized something in a more concrete form.  It was a coping mechanism that I had already used but not formally recognized.

"That is so loud I can't hear myself think!"

I can still hear my mother say it and you know what it is actually True!!  You can turn the radio up and sometimes if you know the song well enough and you turn it up loud enough, you really can't think.  You can only hear the music.  Now I have done some real investigation into this and just noise doesn't really work.  Loud discordant noise is just tiring when you are struggling.  Even songs that you don't know aren't helpful just because your brain doesn't follow them along.  I had the radio up this afternoon. 

We have a new family who just found out that their little boy has Muscular Dystrophy.  It just sucks all around.  I always need to turn that radio up on the way home from those appointments.  I always need to go to bed early and spend some time before I sleep, hugging that (Oh how So) precious little mancub

Snakes and Ladders

On Sunday we had a good day.  The causeway is still running over but it is really safe.  OK well, moderately safe.  The creek would still take out a non swimming child but not an adult and there were lots of adults watching them.  The water is very cold but I am known as a baby when it comes to swimming in cold water.  The kids, of course, didn't even notice.  I didn't notice either, after my feet went numb.  They all loved it and I enjoy watching 'city' kids do 'country' things. 

All the kids played on the cubby as well, climbing the ladders and the nets.  Levi remains very competent with his climbing.  While they were up the cubby, Jo found a snake in the front yard.  It was about 2 metres long and we are now sure it is an Eastern Brown.  They are really scary as Hell.  It was sighted several times that day but we haven't been able to kill it.  Since the weekend we haven't seen it again.  Actually I would prefer to get rid of it once and for all.  They are fiercely territorial and think that this one may have been chased out of his regular hunting ground by the rain, or washed down in the creek in the deluge.

Saturday

 Levi diving for the first time

These posts are running a few days late but I figure if I just keep going, I'll eventually catch up with myself.  So anyway I am doing Saturday even though it is Monday and then if I keep the motivation I can do Sunday tomorrow.  Levi continues to love Shark Bait Kids, more so now that I am letting him breathe off the octopus on my tank.  He spent some of my down time picking up toys and coins off the bottom of the pool and happily swimming along the bottom.  He is getting to be a really good swimmer.  He keeps talking about wanting to play waterpolo, mostly because of me I'm sure, but it is worse now that Ross is playing in USA as well.  I think you can only start playing at about 7 and I don't want to push him into something just because I love it.  At least I'll know the rules of this sport. 

Levi's hair is starting to look very 'Australian'.  I think that it is just that he is spending a lot of time in water and chlorine.  Well, that and he hates getting his hair washed.  I will cut his hair in the next few weeks but at the moment I am just enjoying it. 

Saturday afternoon, I was supposed to go to Mim's Mega Movie Marathon, but sometimes you just have to pull the parent card.  Levi would have been a pain.  He didn't really need a sleep, but he really needed some down time.  We stayed home and watched our own movies.  He played with the Play Doh we had made last weekend and then I got him to bed at a pretty regular time. 

Last night (Sunday night) he almost started to sleep in his own bed.  My mother thinks that I am a terrible parent for letting Levi sleep in my bed.  When he shows some interest in moving beds, I encourage it but I have no desire to push him out of my bed.  There are some nights when I go to bed and just put my hand on his chest and feel him breathe.  When I wake at night I can reassure myself just by reaching over or listening to him peacefully and rhythmically breathing, without any pain or stress.  It is sometimes enough to let me just drift back off to sleep.  On those other, much worse nights, it still helps.  Do I think he will still be there in high school?  No? So regardless of the censure, I will continue to let him sleep where he likes.  Back to his story.  We started reading his stories in his bed and he lay there after I had left for a minute but after a minute or two, he says;

"Mum, This bed isn't comfortable!"

I walked back in and asked him;

"Why?"

Levi replied, 'This space here isn't comfortable" and he pointed to the empty space beside him.

"Is that the space where I am supposed to be?"

"Yep"

Needless to say he slept in my bed and tonight he is too.  When I went to bed last night, I tested to see how long it was before he noticed even fast asleep!  The answer .......... 3 seconds.  He turned over and hugged my arm.  Isn't that the best way on earth to fall asleep?

Wildness

We went to Go Wild again Friday night.  It is a great spot for dinner.  Normally it costs $12 for the kids to play during the day but after 5.30 they have dinner and it only costs you one dinner.  I got the cheapest!  The kids can play as long as they want.  I had fed Levi before he went so he could play and we went with Ty and Steffi and their mother Nicole.  Levi plays until he is dripping with sweat.  After a full day of school, he doesn't last very long but we left at 7pm (his bedtime)  and he had a good hour and a half playing, and we both got fed.

There is an impressive jumping castle/slide an a maze of tunnels and foam to climb through and over.  As it rained and rained again, it was worth wearing him out in a place that was indoors and warm.  The weather has suddenly taken a turn for August.  It is cold and incredibly windy.  On top of that the ground is completely soaked now, so tree roots are less able to anchor trees and the like. 

I ended up leaving early from work on Friday as well.  My computer got to a stage where it wouldn't open anything at all.  On top of that I was in a fragile frame of mind.  It just comes with the territory I think.  Jane is coming back to Australia but more on that later.  There are some days at my work where although I cope, I still miss Frank more than most other days.  I talk to parents in the same place that I was and see in them the same strength and frailty that was there (and perhaps still is) in me.  I always wish that I could take some of that pain away, esp the future pain, that we all acknowledge is there but shy away from a little.  I wish that I could take it away but also know that they have to go through it just as surely as I did.  I hope that I am able to help them. 

Jane is coming back from Abu Dhabi.  I am actually not completely sure why.  There are lots of stories but I am not sure that I really will ever truly know.  I am unsettled by the likely emotional toll this will have on Jane (but knew that 2 years in Abu Dhabi was unlikely).  I am unsettled by the likely financial toll that this will have on the family (and know that getting the full story on this is unlikely as well).  I am unsettled by the emotional toll this will have on Jo as she gets sucked back into the roller coaster that is the reality of having Jane back in our house.  Bipolar disease is not just a disease affecting the person involved.  It makes all our lives a roller coaster and throws out any possibility of long term planning.  Cross your fingers for us!

Frustration

I am frustrated at work.  I am frustrated because I can't get stuff done.  Now it's not because I can't concentrate and it's not because I'm sick or tired.  What I am is sick and tired of the computers.  Our head office continually assures us that the computers are being fixed or that they are increasing the bandwidth, but frankly there has been no change.  The computers take 15 - 20 minutes to open a document and if you try to save a document, it slows down all the computers in the office, enough that we have taken to calling out "I'm about to save" prior to pressing the button.  It breaks your concentration and destroys any ability to work.  That is why I am frustrated.  Thank God for the iphone!  If it gets too frustrating we all challenge each other to a game of Boggle.  I love that game!

Jane is coming back to Australia.  I had predicted 3 months of the 2 year contract, but we only got to 2 months.  I have no idea how much money this is going to cost us.  I haven't been allowed to look at the contract but imagine that the exit clause is huge.  I have no idea what the next step is.  I have no idea what happened there and what the truth is, but I am hoping that we don't have to do this experiment again.  I think that Jane won't cope with it emotionally and we won't cope with it financially.  It is hard to have that kind of drain.  I feel sorry for Jo too.

The fun part of life continues as well.  Robert and I are working out the nitty gritty about the trip to USA, there are some fun parties coming up and we are getting organized to take Levi to a Powderfinger concert before that is just not possible anymore

Time Capsule

The river has receded a little.  You can now make it around the corner and see across the creek to the other road.  It was still well above anything that was drivable!  Where the road turns the corner, the creek eddies and deposits sand and debris, so deep that you have to shovel it out.  It is best to start shovelling while it is still covered by water because you can push out the debris into the flow of water and let it go downstream.  That is the theory.  Reality is slightly different.  If you don't push it out far enough, it all gets caught in the eddy again and redeposits.  The best bet is to shovel it to the side and let the water help you out.  Levi loves the whole 'farm boy' thing and is out there with his plastic shovel and boots.  It makes it quite difficult because you have to keep a really close eye on him.  If he loses his balance he will get washed out.  The creek wouldn't kill me at the moment but I would have to fight hard.  Levi wouldn't have a chance. 

 Levi's boots

 Helping to shovel

 Rapids where our road is

Time Capsule

Levi and I (mostly Levi) built a time capsule today and buried it in the garden.  He was very into it and I actually have no idea what is in the tine.  It is a metal flour tin that I sealed shut with clear packing tape.  Given that he will likely forget about it in a few days the real test will be to see if I can remember.  I think that I will 'remember' some day when he is bored or sick.  We can go out and dig it up and I will be able to find out what is in there.

I hope to plant something over the top as well, so it will help him to forget that it is there.  I am hoping that the tape will be waterproof enough.  Levi put everything inside into plastic bags, so we won't wreck anything even if the capsule itself fails.   My goal is to open it close to his birthday next year.  We shall see if it lasts that long!

Weather bomb

 Levi with his new Play Doh

 After being outside

 Our road, well over

 Rain!

Today Brisbane got hit by what they are calling a 'Weather Bomb'.  It feels like that!  We got 124 mm just between 9pm last night and 6am.  In the two hours after that we got another 15mm.  It has rained incredibly hard all day with a few little moments of quieter rain.  The river rose and then fell slightly, but the rain has picked up again, so I doubt that tomorrow will be much better.  I worked from home.  I can access our server from our house and frankly at the moment, it gives me a faster connection and more peace and quiet.  Not that I am not the instigator of most of the rumpus at work.

Levi and I made Play Doh and he played beside me at a table much of the day with a rolling pin and knife and cookie cutters.  He had the TV on and very little to do.  I think that it won't hurt him to have a few quiet days.  The school would have been very quiet.  Many houses in Samford get cut off on these days.  Our causeway generally goes first, but this rain was cutting off roads that rarely get cut.  My work at Strathpine was also flooded out, so there was no stress about not getting to work. 

Jack was due to fly out today.  He got very stressed and tried all sorts of different options to get out.  I had worked out about 8.30am that there wasn't a chance on earth that any of us were going out safely.  Eventually after trying several different ideas, including chartering a helicopter to get him out, he relaxed and is now back upstairs waiting out the storm. 

If you had 30 seconds to live

I have been watching Xena lately.  Xena and her mate Gabrielle swing swords and other weapons, in an extended Robin Hood style of fighting.  I'm actually disappointed that they didn't use the Robin Hood legend, because they had an episode based on pretty much every other legend from multiple lands, religions and times.  Xena does a thing called the "Pinch" that "cuts off the flow of blood to the brain" giving you "30 seconds to live".  It seems to be a brilliant method of interrogation leaving no discernible brain damage.  But the best thing about the "Xena movies" is right at the end of each of them. It is worth watching even the bad ones for the end. Where most movies have a line at the end saying;

"No animals were harmed in the making of this movie"

The producers of Xena always had a tag line at the end after all the credits that they must have written after a few drinks and daring each other to do it.

"Several Centaurs were harmed in the making of this movie"

"Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was severely harmed in the making of this movie"

And my personal favourite:

"The concept of linear time was severely harmed in the making of this movie"

It always gives you a laugh and is very tongue in cheek.  I think that it would have been fun to work on that set, just based on how funny the last line is. 

I know that it is an odd entry to this but Xena got me thinking...What would you want if you had only 30 seconds to live.  The other interesting thing about that series is that at least once in each series (there are 6 of them) at least one (or both) of the main characters dies, dramatically of course.  Now in the series, they also come back to life with the same frightening regularity.  The concept of life, death and the afterlife has only a tenuous hold on reality regardless of your religion.  The other really funny thing about the series is that Gabrielle's costume shrinks in each subsequent series.  I am sure that they didn't have a seventh series just because the rating wouldn't allow Gabrielle to wear pasties.

I can watch most of the DVDs but there are some that I am still unable to watch.  I am absolutely incapable of watching the first few episodes.  I could quote them word for word and I can see them if I close my eyes but I am absolutely incapable of watching them.  Frankie watched Xena.  I think it is why I do too at times.  He watched the first few episodes of Xena over and over in the last few days.  He never really got beyond those, not because he didn't have time but because he didn't want to watch any more.  He watched movies like a three year old, watching the same thing over and over; rather than watching like an adult, following a storyline over months and years.  My mother who is a great fan of flooding would believe that I should sit in front and watch the videos over and over until they no longer affect me, but I don't want to hate Xena, esp those episodes.  I don't want it to be a chore either.  I want some day, when I am strong enough, to watch them with someone I trust.  I want to be able to laugh and cry and trust that life will go on.  I want to be able to believe that for the last 30 seconds of Frankie's life, he was exactly where he would have wanted to be.  I want to believe that perhaps lying in his mother's arms, surrounded by love was the best that anyone one can hope for.

We tried to organize for Frank to meet Xena.  Had Lucy Lawless been in USA at the end of March 2003, I suspect it would have happened, but by the time we were getting organized we had both just run out of time.  One of the other actors lived nearby and he sweetly called to see if there was something he could do and to try to get the whole thing organized.  But we had run way out of time.

So I wonder.....If I had 30 seconds to live, what would I want?

Shark Bait Kids,

It has been a long day but a really good one.  It was the first day of Shark Bait Kids.  Levi gets to come too.  He swims around for a couple of hours and then 'helps' a bit.  I would love to show the photos of happy smiling kids on this blog, but I can't.  Instead I can put my happy smiling kid on there.  It was very successful and we have some really fun plans for them all this year and I'm really looking forward to it.  We are planning to do a 'night dive' and put them in the pool with lights.  I think it will be really exciting.  We can do a BBQ before hand as well!

After the SBKs, Levi and I went to his Art Show.  OK no tiny school art show is any good but it was really fun and Levi was very proud of his painting of a clown.  It has been raining fairly hard here and we got 40mm last night.  It means that the causeway is flooded but not enough to make it dangerous.  It is about 30 cm deep.  I am happy to go over it at about 40 cm and I imagine that the car can do about 50cm but I am too nervous to travel across at that height.  He loves it when the creek is over, because I can go really fast at the end and splash his face when he sticks it out the window.  I like that about living on a farm, it gives Levi the opportunity to do country life sorts of things even though we live close enough to the city to do city things as well. 

Books and Scrolls

Levi has been better today.  He had a better night and then woke up fairly happy.  He happily played around until it was time to drop him off for school.  Then he decided that he was too sick to be in school.  Anyway, finally he decided that it would be fine to stay.  Friday is a good day for him because for the next term I drop him off and pick him up from school, like "all the other parents".  I am trying to have Friday off for the next term, because I have to work Saturdays but I'm not very good at it.  I had yesterday off so I went in today to check that everything was ready for the Shark Bait Kids.  Next week there is a kid already booked in but after that, then I have Fridays off.

Levi has been into making books lately, usually about the Rocket Car or Super Heroes.  He does the drawings and I have to write the words.  Then he sticks it all together with more and more tape.  Tonight he switched to something else.  It is always something that makes you think.

Tonight he switched to taping the pages end to end and rolling up the pages.  Now by itself it's just a slight shift in what he was doing, but of course there was more.  He wanted me to write on it.  Now that is always a bit of a shift and I asked him why he wasn't drawing on it first. 

He said, "These are different.  You think things and then write them down"

I said, "Isn't that what we do in the other books?"

"No", he said, "This is different.  You write important things that you want people to know"  

He was very serious about it all.  I think that I am going to have to change his name to Solon.  He has switched to scrolls and has started to write his philosophy.  There is a part of me that wonders whether or not the best possible options for the world, would be to start to listen to the deeper thoughts of an empathetic 5 year old who thinks deep enough thoughts that he wants to write them on scrolls.

His thoughts?  He thinks that we should be friends with the inside of ourselves.

Why I chose Solon?  His philosophy? 

"Know Thyself"

Sick Day

This is what we did most of the day. Levi has had a high fever and a stomach bug. He has pretty much been in the same position all day, sometimes with his eyes open and sometimes they were shut. He has been better this afternoon and I am hoping he can go to school tomorrow, for the most selfish of reasons. I want a day to myself. I am hoping that he can but I am fine if he can't.

Today I think I won a vacuum cleaner. You know that I never believe it unless they place it in my hands, but I got an Email today. I never really believe things through the internet, but when I got the Email, I did at least remember that I had entered the competition in the past, so it may well be legitimate. It was through the Asthma foundation. I am not sure what the next step is but the Email said they would contact me. We shall see!

It is a Start

Term 4 has started and it is going to be as busy as term 4 ever is. I have Shark Bait kids starting up this Saturday. It kills every Saturday for a term but it's worth every minute. The kids love it and I love to watch them having fun. Levi will be joining us this year again and will be playing in the pool at the same time. He is very funny about it and loves all the kids. This year there are a couple of other things in his (and my) favour. He is now a good enough swimmer, that I can leave him to his own devices most of the time and he can play in and out of the pool. The second thing in our favour this year is that the pool rules require a lifeguard this time, so I can even know that there are always another pair of eyes watching him. It makes me just a little more comfortable.

The other thing that I love about Term 4 is that at the end of it, we get to go back to USA for a whole 5 weeks. We are both counting the days!

Morning After

Levi posing

Levi climbing

Levi happy

With cousins

This was from the morning after at Penny and John's house. After waking at the crack of dawn Levi was still fairly happy, but I did warn everyone at the brunch that the Collapse Factor was well above 100% and that was proven to be true as he did have one little collapse.

In the afternoon, Levi went and played with Ruby and I actually had a minute all by myself. It was great! Georgie and I got to chat for about an hour and a half and then I got to read a book at my home until I went to get Levi again. We did work out some of the logistics of getting Levi to the concert. It seems that an All Access Pass is more complicated than I thought. We are going to try for the Nov 10th or 12th concert. Levi and Ruby will play in an area set aside (called the Little Fingers area) and eat there for dinner. Then they will put on the fancy ear protectors and watch the concert from the side of the front, so they can get in and out if they want. We shall see how he goes because we might just have him sleep over in the unit near the Riverstage, so there is no driving for anyone. I will go to the movies but will need to be enough awake to go and get him if the sleepover gets too much. Now all I have to do is to start to familiarize Levi with the music. It seems that I shall be listening to Powderfinger for the next month or so. At least I will start to get to know it.