For Nine Years

That's our first ever "family" photo taken on Melbourne Cup Day 2000. Eric had been born on the Friday before. Today is his ninth birthday which makes us parents for nine years.
Nine years since we did everything in our power to fall pregnant and stay pregnant. I was diagnosed with poly-cystic ovaries in 1998 and at times in the ensuing months it seemed as if our dreams of parent hood would never come true. We had seven cycles of IUIs (inter-uterine inseminations) and by December of 1999 we were pregnant but sadly not for very long. We went back in early 2000 to try again thinking that we'd be in for another series of failed attempts but it seems our wonderful dr had got the "mix" of drugs correct and we fell pregnant with Eric.
Everything went swimmingly with the pregancy until 24 weeks. I had no morning sickness but I took a long time to realise that this could indeed mean our dreams were coming true. I remember one Saturday afternoon while dh was playing Bowls I drove to Spotlight to look for baby curtains and when I got to the roundabout at Indooroopilly I turned around and came back home again without even going into the shop. In fact before 24 weeks I'd bought about six singlets and we'd decided on a theme for the baby's room - Bananas in Pyjamas.
Then on a Monday morning in August I awoke to bleeding and as I drove to the dr's office the cramping beagn. I had an "irritable uterus" and it stayed cranky for the next 10 weeks. Dh took me from the dr's to hospital that morning where I was confined to bed, allowed up to use the toilet or have a shower and that was it. If I left the confines of my room I had to go by wheelchair. After three weeks I was allowed home but I think I only lasted there for one night. The Sydney Olympics were on. I watched the swimming finals. I got all excited. I started having contractions again. Back to hospital. Do not pass go.
So there I stayed for the next 7 weeks with contractions every 2-3 days until finally when I reached 34 weeks the dr decided to deliver Eric via c-section. It was about 6:00pm at night and no cameras were allowed. I remember asking "what is it? what is it?" and the dr saying "it's a baby!". We never found out the sex of the baby until he was born. The dr got him out and promptly dumped him on my face and I was left with no uncertainty as to whether we had a boy or girl! He weighed in at 5lb 3oz which was a very good weight for 34 weeks. All the weeks of ventolin, steroid injections and bed rest had paid off. He was soon whisked away to the SCN and a humidi crib where he had oxygen till midnight. After a couple of nights in the humidi crib he graduated to a plastic cot and from Special Care 1 to Special Care 2 where he would spend the first 4 weeks of his life - floppy and tired and not interested in feeding.
His name was decided when we were engaged and Anthony's Uncle Eric passed away. We sat having dinner one night and somehow decided that Eric James (the James for my Dad Jim) would be a great name for a baby boy. Even though I had a scan every week that I was in hospital we never found out the gender. The scan people used to see us coming in the end and say "we know, you're the people who don't want to know whether it's a boy or girl - you just want to know if it is alright." The girl's name was still being discussed on the day Eric was delivered so we know he was "meant to be".
I got sent home on day 7 and while it was wonderful to go home it was also one of the saddest days of my life, driving away from that hospital with our little Eric still there. He was finally home with us in early December wearing a newborn sized huggies with the whole waistband folded over and 0000 clothes falling off him.
From then on he progressed very well and was always a very contented baby who was easy to care for. The whole saga was very challenging and still challenges me to a certain extent even today. I remember being asked once about what hadn't gone to plan with Eric and I could truthfully answer absolutely everything. We learned to not have an expectation about anything set in stone and to accept what life dished up for us. I wouldn't change any of it because out of it we were gifted with Eric - a truly wonderful human being.

Blessings and Challenges

Today had definitely had its ups and downs. I've been blessed by:

• see Eric run his hardest in the 100 m and 60m hurdles in a the junior pentathlon
• seeing Eric thoroughly immersed in reading
• great company and conversation at my social knitting group this afternoon
• Anthony tidying up the living area and vacuuming to give me a head start on the housework for the night
• Scribing a letter for Daniel to his new pen friend in California

However there are also some challenges:

• A very strained conversation about my work (or lack thereof) and how we can manage just on one much smaller income
• The great unwillingness and mini tantrums being thrown by one son whenever he is asked to help out with anything.
• Piles of laundry everywhere that must be dealt with before Thursday (when I'm leaving on a jet plane, la la la la la la la la)

Blessings

A friend wrote on her blog today about things that she is thankful for or "blessings" and she was able to add some photos. What a great idea! This has inspired me to take more photos of everyday things and to "count my blessings" at the end of the day especially on a day like today when not much has gone right!
So no photos today because it is 10:27pm as I write this (after a Little Athletics meeting that ran LATE) but the following is what I am grateful for tonight:

• My sore left arm because it means I've been vaccinated and am now safe from swine flu
• The little boy curled up on the bed behind me watching his favourite Scooby Doo cartoons - his Prep class did an assembly item today about all the LetterLand characters they have learned this year and it was excellent!
• The wonderful teacher that Prep boy has this year.
• The other, almost 9 year old boy who has already passed out in his own bed and his wonderful love for reading. He's up to the 4th book in the Harry Potter series and just can't put it down. He was in the athletics clubhouse reading when it was time for his 400m tonight!
• The Wii Fit because it meant I could squeeze in 15 minutes of exercise this afternoon even though I didn't make it to the gym.
• The help that I get with recording at Little Athletics. I was really frazzled when I got there tonight because we were running late, I've mislaid the age patches that I'd ordered in the mail and the boys couldn't find their gear to put on but once I'd been there for about half an hour and had a chat to few people, registered some new athletes and started recording sprint times everything felt much better.
  

The Beginning of a Journey

I haven't got much today because I was cursed with a migraine once again so most of the day wasa write-off. Tonight A and I attended the first parent meeting for the Parish Sacramental Program. Eric will make his first Reconciliation in November this year and then receive his first Communion and Confirmation on June 6 next year. And so it begins. Tonight was a lot of information about upcoming meetings and some things to do with our children to get them more acclimatised to the Church, Prayer and Sacraments. We have been very slack with attending Mass and we really need to improve in that area. Luckily there are two really good Masses we can attend in the school parish so that is encouraging. The program leader advised making it more of an occasion by going out for coffee afterwards or going to visit friends etc. She also discussed many ideas for bringing prayer into the home - something we are sorely in need of. So this will be another project for me in the coming weeks. I'll leave you with the parent's prayer that we shared tonight because I think it applies to all parents, teachers and people who havea role in the lives of children.

Heavenly Father, make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to answer all their questions kindly. Keep me from interrupting or contradicting them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me. May I never laugh at their mistakes, or resort to ridicule when they displease me. Bless me with the confidence to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm. May I not rob them of the opportunity to think, to choose and to make decisions for themselves. Make me fair and just and kind. And fit me, O Lord, to be loved and respected and imitated by my children Cary C. Myers

The Deep End

I think I will be watching a lot of this during the coming summer. My boys like to go in the slide pool where D hurtles down like a bullet and E glides gracefully down as slowly as possible. But what they love most of all is the deep end of the pool and jumping off the blocks. And today I allowed D to do it without me physically in the water with him for the first time. He does a very frantic dog paddle to get to the side (so much for the swimming lessons) but he makes it and he is so proud of himself, giving me a big thumbs up sign every time he climbs out of the pool. He then went on to his lessons today where he performed really well after I bribed him with more "slide pool time". He gets so excited at swimming lessons that he has terrible difficulty staying on the step when it isn't is his turn and he wasn't listening to his teacher or trying to follow her instructions very well.
I should mention here that E is always beautifully behaved and is doing very well. he's got good technique but not much speed. However in a couple of weeks when his lesson moves to the big pool I expect he will develop more stamina.

The Week That Was September 19

When I look at my iCal page for the week it is bristling with appointments and things scheduled but I certainly didn't get to all of it. I did get to the medical appointments but not to the gym or Weight Watchers. I did make a big effort though to get things done here at home so that I can enjoys the two week school holidays with the boys and so that I am on the way to being organised for life as a relief teacher which begins in two weeks.
I've also been enjoying some individual time with Eric as we plowed through Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I was reading him a chapter a night but he's now finished on his own and I have to finish it myself tonight before we start tomorrow on HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We also did some craft together this afternoon. I suppose it isn't the most manly thing to be doing - ripping up floral rice paper and gluing it to a ceramic jug and bowl set but it is good for his fine motor skills!
I'm having sleep issues which are making my mornings extremely difficult but I'll be working on getting a good routine going during the holidays.

Planning for the School Holidays

I've got less than a week before my boys are home with me for two weeks and I've decided not to just let this holiday flow past and then regret the things I could have done with them. So this afternoon we had a little brainstorming session, I did some web surfing and we had another ideas session. We've come up with three lists:

• Things to do at home
• People we'd like to see
• Places to go

We certainly won't do everything on the lists but it gives us more than enough ideas to go on with and we can have some of our days planned which gives us something to look forward to.
To share some of our lists:

Things to do at home

• A Treasure Hunt
• Cooking
• Chalk Art
• Making an Earth Sun Catcher
• Making a garbage bag spider
• Ice Cube painting
• Jar candle holders
• Macaroni Noodle Frame

People to see

• Nephew coming for a sleep over
• Friends to catch up with who are not necessarily school friends
• Some school friends

Places to go

• Movies - Aliens in the Attic and G-Force (one with Dad and one with their cousin)
• Broomsticks and Goblins workshop at Reverse Garbage (Harry Potter theme)
• Mt Coot-tha Gardens - they want to explore more after our adventure the other day
• KIDScience at Queensland Museum
• A Picnic
• A Bike Ride

A Little Adventure (and Misadventure!)

One thing that fascinates my boys is bridges. They like looking at the view from them, from underneath them and from all angles really and since a new bridge has been built over the Western freeway linking ANZAC Park with the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens they've itching to get onto it. It is a cycle and pedestrian bridge and we drive underneath it every day on our way home from school. I went looking for it's name only to find that it has been called the "Toowong Cycle and Pedestrian Overpass" (not very exciting considering the names of other bridges in Brisbane. Below is a video of what it looks like to ride over it.

Yesterday the boys packed their scooters into my car in the morning so that after school we could go to the park and ride over the bridge. We actually ventured further into the Botanic Gardens (Eric insists that they are the "BOWtanic Gardens") the check out the exact location for my godson's wedding which was today. We've decided that further exploration of the Gardens is needed during the upcoming holidays and set out to scooter (or trudge in my case) back over the bridge to the car again.
Poor old Dan "lost control" coming around one of the bends on the ANZAC Park side and had a crash. He got off lightly with just a few grazes but fortunately his "damaged" arm was better after a band-aid.
In all it was a good solid hour of walking for me which is just what I need so I'll have to think up some more little after school and holiday adventures.

A Little Angel

I finished this last night. It was my ornament for July but events around here stopped me from getting it done till August 4!

Eric is home from three days with croup and is missing his class trip to the Ekka tomorrow. He and Anthony did a midnight hospital trip last night so we've all been pretty tired today.

I took him up the road earlier to buy a sausage roll for his lunch - as he was missing tuckshop! - and we've just got back from a trip to Threads and More where I bought some threads for my August ornament and a knitting pattern and wool for a vest made of squares. It is very funky wool so I've included a picture of it. I'd like to be the same size as the model by the time I've knitted it but I don't know if that will happen. I've been trying to sort out school stuff today and as a result I've got stuff everywhere!

Homework Time

The school holidays are drawing to a close which means that for me, life gets very busy again very soon. One of the things we've found difficult over the past 2.5 years that E has been getting homework is the organising of the supplies.
Even though I preach to parents at school about the need for a good consistent daily homework routine I don't always achieve that with E. Part of the reason is that he is coping very well with his school work and can race through his homework fairly easily at this stage so it is pretty easy to just do the written stuff on a Monday and then hurriedly finish filling out the reading log on a Thursday night. E doesn't read to us at night anymore because he's well and truly into chapter books. Now that I've done the First Steps Reading In-Service at school I can see a need for him to read more complex texts to me and that is something else I am going to work on. Another reason that we dont stop and do table top tasks every day is the actual table. A few years ago we hada table that seated four and always stayed fairly clear because it had to. Now we have a table that seats six and one end is always covered with "stuff" including stray pens, pencils, erasers, scissors and all the things possibly needed for homework.
One of the points raised in the parent teacher interview for D was that he needs to practice forming his numbers and letters before he needs to put more of his thinking on paper when he starts Year 1 next year. I though being able to find a pencil and an eraser wasa good start!
So I wanted all the supplies in one spot and I wanted plenty of them. I already had a basket but it was in great disarray with everything everywhere so I dumped it all out and started again with some extra supplies we bought with our groceries today.
The final photo is a closer peek into our basket where we've got good supplies of glue, sticky tape and scissors and a laminated card with Queensland Beginners Alphabet for D and a Macquarie personal dictionary which E used at school in year 1 and 2 and I continue to use with him now at home.
So we're all organised and will now have to work on our weekly routine so that there is a bit of time spent around the homework table every night if possible.

Down on the Farm

We spent Monday and Tuesday nights at the Cedar Glen Farm Stay south of Beaudesert. It is something I've always wanted to do with the boys and they really enjoyed it. I relished the peace and quiet and having three square meals provided on each day of our stay. Lunch was a picnic both days and Daniel used that chance to do some creek exploring. He and Eric fell into the icy creek on both days and Anthony fell in on the second day as he was telling them to be careful. The intrepid Dan wasn't going to let a bit of cold water stop him from exploring.
Both boys fed the pigs, chooks, ducks, turkeys and sheep which was a new experience and a bit daunting for them at first but by the second night they were striding out in their gumboots like old hands ready to give it a go. Eric also had a go at milking the cow. Both boys went for a 20 minute horse ride which quite sufficient given that their previous experience consists of riding around a ring at the Ekka.
We made good use of the heaters and electric blankets at night and enjoyed dinner by an open fire. I was pleased that the boys ate some things they wouldn't normally eat but would like to have them try more different things. And you really just how good (or otherwise) your child's table manners are when they are sitting up at a properly set table with serviettes etc. Some work is needed in that department!
I think the best part for me was sitting on the verandah, with a coffee and a good book and not needing to be anywhere or do anything - there should be more of it.

Another Milestone

We've celebrated many things today - the end of a looooong term, school athletics carnival and Daniel's birthday party. The day was dampened by rain at the athletics (we soldiered on as it was only light) and it was dark and cold by the time Daniel's last little party guest departed but we've had a great day overall.
I don't think I'll ever have a party on the last day of term again - even though Anthony organized it all. Everyone had a good time and the children from school enjoyed our big backyard to run around in but everyone was very tired as well. We kept it very simple. Daniel and Eric are huge Scooby-Doo fans so he'd requested a Scooby-Doo theme. Anthony decorated with stuff we had left over from Eric's halloween birthday party a couple of years ago and screened off part of the area under the house with bird netting that is destined from my classroom with its Underwater World theme for next term. The children ran around and around the house, played on the swings and trampoline and participated in a few games organized by Eric and Anthony. Eric has been waiting for about six months to dress up as a ghost and "scare" the preps and he's finally had his moment this afternoon.
My contribution was printing out some ready made invitations from the internet, fielding acceptances and apologies and icing two square sponge cakes last night with spooky green icing. This afternoon I added red writing and "Shaggy" and "Scooby-Doo" figures and I was done. Anthony has done the food, party bags and everything else while I have been fnishing reports, portfolios and parent teacher interviews over the past few weeks.
I'm looking forward to a couple of slower paced weeks in which I can spend time with my boys, get some work done in the house, focus on my health and fitness more and of course do a bit of school work.