Wild Busy Day

Today was a whole weekend worth of activities in a single day!  It was nutso busy but it was fun.  Levi had soccer first thing and he is still playing a little slowly with his cold but he still has fun and gets his pulse rate up a little.  There are only a couple more weekends of soccer now and we have a breakup BBQ on Wednesday night after practice.  The kids won 5 - 4 so the match was really close.  At one point one of the boys on our team tried to kick a ball and missed it completely.  He, our team, the other team and all the parents thought it was funny.  No one feels to bad about it all and they are still making mistakes like own goals at times.  There was one a side this match.  Levi's good mate Robbie came to watch the match, with his dad Mark and that always boosts Levi's spirits a little.

After soccer we went to Levi's mate Ty's sister's birthday party.  Yes it was really that close.  Actually we were there to give Ty a friend when his sister had her special day.  It was a princess party and Levi dressed up as a prince.  He was gorgeous.  Sorry, he was handsome!  I am getting into trouble with him at times now if I call him beautiful or gorgeous in public.  I still get away with it in private!

 Look at this sweet tired face!

In the beginning, I took some photos.  Levi had to put on this growly face and it wasn't until later and a telephoto lens before I could get a shot of him without this face!  I love it because he was trying to look cranky but still he has the big smile that he can't resist!

After the party, we went and saw Ice Age, Continental Drift.  It was more about trying to slough off some of the party sugar, than it was about the movie.  We had both seen it before but the choice of children's movies at the moment is poor.  As we were choosing by time rather than by movie, Ice Age was the only choice.  Still Levi invited a friend and they had fun talking at the top of their lungs to and from the movie and being good and eating their body weight in popcorn.

Hitting the Ground Running

We are in USA now.  Levi as always travelled like a complete legend!  It is the worst possible flight time, that one from Brisbane to LA.  It flies at 11am.  It means that Levi wakes early because he is excited and then we get on the flight.  For the first nine hours of the flight he's not even tired and after that he still isn't because now he hasn't done anything but sit on his bottom and watch movies for the last nine hours!  Finally about ten hours into the flight I get him to sleep and literally one hour after that they are turning on the lights and bringing in breakfast.  I managed to have Levi sleep though much of that but it was still an effort to keep him asleep.  At the thirteen hour mark we are getting off the plane!  Now he has had about (quite literally) two hours of sleep.  Because we had loads of time in LAX and because our next flight was about five hours away, customs and immigration was a breeze.  Our bags were off first and we got waved through everywhere.  No time was killed.

We then killed time by playing checkers and chess on the floor of LAX.  Neither of us was hungry (our bodies thought it was the wee hours of the morn, regardless of what the clock said).  Finally we went LA to Portland and then Portland to Medford.  Both Levi and I slept the entire LA, Portland leg, giving us both two hours of sleep.  By the time we got to bed that night it had been about a 32 hour stretch, where I had two hours and Levi four hours, of sleep.  We collapsed into bed that night, barely unpacking!  It was not pretty!

Today was party day!  I got a drive through coffee, that I have been craving since, oh, last visit! Then we went on to Laurie's house where she was hosting the big birthday bash.  Levi is in heaven because he is able to play with his brothers the whole time and loved being the center of attention.  The gifts were a bonus as well.  But for Levi it is always about the people and he loved it all.  They played in the pool, which is amazing, because the water temperature was about 74 F.  I don't go in unless it's about bath water and 74 is a long way from bath water! 

For me jet lag is less about sleep and more about the odd sensory experience of expecting silence but getting noise and light!  It is about being regulated for night time but getting day.  I am adjusting.  I think I am adjusting faster each time, but these first few days are always a little off.

Birthday Party

The smile says it all!  This was the birthday party!  I am a relaxed non competitive birthday party host.  Pretty much, I am of the opinion that if the kids can't play happily for a couple of hours in our yard, there is something wrong with the kid.  These kids didn't have any trouble.  The kids all played in the rocket car for about 45 minutes.  Then we all built zip line toys.  I ripped off the pattern from the internet and then adapted it.  I got it from this website which I love and then after the bobbins failed just ran it off bent paperclips which worked better.  Then we had the Rocket Car Cake and opened presents.  When night fell, we lit the fire and the kids all roasted marshmallows.

It was a lovely afternoon and night.  The kids all had a blast.  Levi was a very happy little man.  The rain held off until night.  Really there wasn't a lot more to ask for. 

Birthday Party

Today we:

Played a game of soccer

Organized a party

Had a 6 year old birthday party

Had a BBQ dinner with 20 people

Roasted marshmallows

And I am completely trashed.  I'm going to bed!

45 Today

Today is my birthday.  I had a busy non-birthday day.  I went to work early because I had to go to the coast again.  For a birthday it was kind of quiet.  I worked and Levi went to school.  He was cranky when I picked him up because I wouldn't buy him a slushy.  He moaned a bit about it but was fine by the time I got home.  That was about the whole of it. 

I have been thinking about other birthdays.  I think it's a good idea to do that on your birthday.  To see where you have been.

At 5, I was in USA

At 15, I was at High School, It was the year that I learned that I was stronger than I ever believed that I could be.  It was the year that I learned how to trust myself before trusting anyone. 

At 25, I was relearning that lesson.  Life once again was showing me that no matter how weak you think you are, you are stronger than you can believe.  It was the beginning of learning that you can indeed trust other people as well as yourself, so long as you never forget the trust in yourself.

At 35, I learned that no matter how much it hurt when it happens to you, it hurts that much more when things happen to those you love.  It was the year that I realized that Frankie had something that I should be very afraid of.  It was the first year of real sickness for him.  It was the year of escalating drug trials.

At 45, I am still learning.  Levi coughs in the background as I type.  His asthma has flared again, probably in response to a minor illness.  The illness is likely in response to his being way too tired and getting to the end of term.  It isn't a scary cough and in a few days it will disappear again.  Tomorrow night we do the night dive with the Shark Bait Kids and in less than a fortnight, Levi and I will be on holidays and in USA. 

I wonder where I'll be in 10 more years!

Birthday still

We went to Sizzler for his birthday. Pretty much it was me and Mim and Pam. I think we were all ready for a little 'not have to cook' dining. It has been a busy few weeks for me with this course at the Royal Children's to get over with. I think the participants got a lot out of it, but I was back and forwards to and from work as well which made the parts I didn't have to organize a little disjointed. I am going to be grateful to have it off my plate and get back to real work for a while. Actually that is not completely true. I only have to work for about 2 weeks and then I am on vacation for three weeks with Levi, so I am hoping at the end of all of that I will be very relaxed.

Levi had Jane as his teacher the last two days because she is supply teaching and his teacher has been ill. He loves to have her there and gets a real kick out of the idea. All of his friends love it too because they are so used to seeing Jane they get a surprise when she is their teacher.

Happy Birthday Little Mancub

Look how far you have come little man. This was only four years ago and now look at you. Levi is now very proud of the fact that today he was able to move his name from the section of the wall that had the four year olds on it to the five year old spot. He has been more excited about that than almost anything. It is funny, he gets such a kick out of things like that.

I love that he has a sense of humor and that it kicks in at times I least expect it. I love that he is confident but that he still is empathetic. The only thing that will really upset him is if he thinks that he is doing the correct thing and someone tells him that he is doing something wrong. He loves the order of the world but is flexible enough to cope with the major curve balls that life has already sent his way. He loves his brothers, all of them, the living and the dead and he talks about them often. I love that he reminds me of Frank but never so much that I expect him to live for someone else. I love that he is still a Mama's boy and that he wants to do a sleepover but is surprised when he is told that I wouldn't stay too. Most of all I love that tonight when I get into bed I can snuggle up against you and feel you breathe and know that you are happy and healthy; loved and loving.

Such a beautiful soul. I love you Birthday Boy. Happy fifth birthday!

Birthday Eve

Tomorrow Levi wakes up and he is five years old. It is amazing. He is amazing. This week he read his first sentence in a book he hadn't really seen before. He read a sentence from "Ten Apples up on top" and it is a very phonetic book. The words are all short and sound-out-able and it was just lovely to watch but it does signal the beginning of the end. It is the end of the innocent time when he isn't really influenced by the outside world's advertising and opinions. Once he can really read though I think that he is suddenly open to the barrage of influences that I have very little control over. In a way I am excited by what he will see in those influences as he has a great way of looking at life, but I am also nervous, that he sees too many of the nasty things out there that I can just ignore at the moment, because he can't read the newspaper, or billboards, or any other of the numerous random words that are out there.

I wonder where he will be in five more years. Certainly five years ago, I never anticipated that I would be here. In fact it would have been the last place that I would have expected to be. In five years Levi will be in Grade 5 and he will be one of the older kids in the school and not one of the youngest two children there. The youngest of all turns five in two weeks. Strange how the world turns.

I told him about the trip to Sydney today and now he has something else to count down to. Frankly I am counting down as well. I am in the middle of the Back to Basics course and have a bunch of young physios that I need to look after tomorrow and after that things will calm down a little. Then two weeks and then a three week break.....but who's counting

Birthday Bash

The kids had loads of fun. It was a very long weekend, but it was fantabulous. Levi had a lot of fun and remains high on sugar and happiness. He is very cute with it all and loved the attention. We played a game that was translated from a drinking game, but he can tell that to his shrink down the track. You had to roll the dice and if you got two numbers that added to five, or one of the dice showed the number five; then you got to run to the table, put on a hat, a vest and gloves and eat lollies with a fork. Now because that number of fives was not sure enough, we had two sets of dice running at the same time. Now the kids were all on a sugar high.

We split the kids up into teams and they had five tasks to do , five things to find out and five things to collect. It was great! They all had a team leader and the kids all worked together really well. One of the tasks was to paint a plaster train. There was also putting their hand prints on the canvas that I will put up in Levi's room (after I've fixed it a bit). One of the other tasks was to get a photo of the team on the cubby. It means that I got a good photo of all the kids.

Nino had organized a jumping castle, but it didn't show. After she called around to find it, they had lost the order. They managed to bring one out at about 5ish and we got to have it for a few hours free. It was perfect because the kids had loads of fun and then just as they were winding down, they had the castle appear and it all started again.

Today was very quiet, other than the swimming training and soccer. Part way through soccer, Levi just lay down on the ground and put his head on the ball. The coaches tried a couple of times to get him going but then just let him lie there until he picked himself up and joined again. The rest of the team were as bad. Most of them had also been at the party. I could just start to see a decade in the future, and the aftermath will be very alike, with perhaps a little more nausea.

He is sleeping again tonight, hard. Last night he got up about 9.30pm and was crying because;

"I don't know if it's morning or night and my body can't work it out"

Sounded like 'way too tired' to me. I just snuggled him up and told him it was night. Ah to be five and everything solved that easily.